The 58th Hunger Games
by cottoncandychoctop
Summary: 16 years before anyone had ever heard of Katniss Everdeen 2 other district 12 tributes stole the hearts of Panem.This is their games and the events preceeding.After making it to the final 8 can Eora survive what she knows must happen for her own victory?
1. Eora

Eora

The first thing I heard was the loud knocking on the door. Then the wailing and squealing. Then someone screamed "EORA!" from downstairs, making the entire floor shake and finally the loud crash of my photo frame falling off of my bedside table and onto the floor.

I groaned and turned over, flinging my pillow over my head as I did so. No, just five more minutes, just five more minutes of peace and quiet. But of course, I don't get it. Dori ran into the room, shrieking in a high pitched voice and her cheeks stained with tears. Raine wasn't far behind, yelling and shouting, a very old and frail rag doll clutched protectively in her tiny hands.

"I had it first!" Dori screeched as she turned to me, her eyes huge and pleading.

"But it's mine!" Raine yelled back, pulling the doll closer to her.

I let out an exasperated sigh and got up out of bed. With the very little effort I could produce at this time of morning I yanked the doll out from Raine's arms, causing her to erupt and howl.

"Actually Raine it's mine. Did Dori have Misty first?"

"Nooooo" she cried as she sank to the floor.

"Yes I did!" Dori screams but the tears have stopped and a triumphant smile slowly creeps across her face.

"Eora don't bother I've already tried."

I quickly turned and saw Alara standing, arms folded, in the middle of the doorway. I sighed with relief at the sight of my friend, already dressed in her best clothes.

"You look," I try to find the right word, "nice."

She rolled her eyes and then came and took Misty from me. Misty was the only doll we owned, it had been my mothers and it was one of the few things of hers that we got. Anything of value she owned had been left to my uncle. Dori and Raine fight over it all the time but like I said before, technically its mine. Like I have time to play with dolls.

"Wish I could say the same of you," Alara said as she eyed me up and down, bed head and all.

"I promise I'll be ready in like fifteen minutes. Have you fed them?"

"No sorry I was dressing Nan. I wish she didn't have to come to the reaping with us. She struggles to get out of bed, let alone walk to the square."

Alara lives with her Grandmother Reyna downstairs from us. Her parents died years ago, I never really asked how. Ever since mum died the two of us have worked together, I take care of her Grandmother whilst she's working and she looks after Dori and Raine while I'm at school. Alara works with Mrs Palmer, the seamstress. It's not a great job and the pay is lousy but what other choice does she have. Alara is twenty three years old; her options are work or get married and she's one of those really dreamy lovey-dovey kinds.

"That's alright, I'll get the bread."

I started to walk over to the kitchen when I remembered the picture that had fallen off of the bedside table. I went over to pick it up. Only one small crack through the glass of the frame, that's good. I looked into the eyes of my parents; both faces alight with the sight of their newborn baby. I tried to remember the moment when I was that small and in their loving embrace. I couldn't. That was sixteen years ago. When they were both alive.

I sighed wistfully and walked back into the kitchen.

"What time is it?" I asked as let out a huge yawn. I could see the sun bright against the curtains and I knew she had let me sleep in because of the reaping.

"Twelve thirty."

Wow. She really had let me sleep in; the reaping was in an hour and a half. Dori and Raine had both forgotten their little quarrel and had gone back into their room to do each other's hair. I smiled and looked over and saw Alara smiling as well. She turned to look at me.

"Are going to tell them about the reaping this year?"

I frowned. No I wasn't. Like this they were happy, they were carefree. They could live in their own little world and play with each other's hair and be kids. They didn't need to know of the horrible future that could befall them. They didn't need to know that every year twenty three children die and we all have to watch it. Dori and Raine were just babies. They didn't need to know about the Hunger Games. Well not just yet.

"Next year, Alara. Next year."

She rolled her eyes, "You said that last year."

"There only four years old." I said but with very little conviction. When I was four years old I was grieving the loss of my father. Death and pain were already very close to me at that age. Alara knew about the fire that had killed my father, everyone did. He went in to save three year old me and my mother and in the process was severely burnt all over his body. While everyone was dealing with the external injuries, internally my father was suffocating; all the smoke he had inhaled slowly killed him. The only injury I sustained was a small burn to my shoulder.

Nine years after my father died my mother remarried and fell pregnant. Seven months into her pregnancy her new husband was killed when toxic fumes started protruding from the ground in the mine he was working in. When my mother heard she went into premature labour. Dori and Raine, my two twin half-sisters came through, but my mother never did. And so at twelve years of age I was left with two newborn babies.

Alara's voice broke my nostalgia, "Four years old and blissfully ignorant."

I laughed half-heartedly, "What I wouldn't give to be any kind of ignorant."

Alara laughed, her beautiful voice filling up the room with a new cheery tone. But it didn't last long; no happy or joyful emotion can last very long on reaping day.

"Has your uncle sent any money this week?" Alara asked as she cut a slice of bread.

"No. Not surprising really though." I said with a hint of resentment. My uncle is technically my legal guardian; after my parents and stepfather died we were left in his care. He's fairly well off, but he's a little too fond of his grog. After three weeks of living with him I proposed an alternative solution. I was going to live with Dori and Raine in the old home and he could just send us enough money to live off every week. He was of course glad to get rid of us as he hated the idea of having three children to care for just as much as I hated the idea of living with a rotten drunk for the rest of my school life.

"Well you only have an hour before we have to leave so if you want to eat, eat fast."

I let out a quick curse before stuffing a small chunk of bread in my mouth and going in to get ready. Half an hour later I'm in my little white dress and my nice shoes. When I came out Alara had already dressed Raine and was just finishing Dori's hair. She took one look at me a groaned.

"Really is that the best you can do? You're not wearing any tights, you're skirt is far too short and don't even let me start on your hair."

I glared at her viciously. Unlike Alara who had luscious dark locks of hair my hair was a nothing brown colour, a colour struggling to be chocolate brown but just wasn't there yet. Not that I really cared all that much, but that was Alara's issue with me. I just didn't care that much. I didn't care that my skirt was too short or that my hair wasn't styled properly.

"My skirt was fine last year. You can't blame me for growing. Same story with the tights. And I knew that even if I did my hair you'd redo it anyway so I just left it.

She gave a little chuckle. "Eora Reagan you are impossible. Sit down."

And so I sat for twenty minutes and let her brush out all the knots in my hair so it was smooth as silk and fell in an acceptable way around my face. She washed my face and used god knows what to make it look perfect. When Alara was satisfied she put me up to a mirror.

"What do you think?" she said gleefully.

I looked at myself in the mirror. Where was I? Was the mirror broken or something? It didn't even look like me. Sure the girl in the mirror had the same pale skin but it was flawless and she was almost, pretty. The only thing that looked the same were the deep green eyes. When I saw them I sighed in relief. Maybe I am still there. Then I saw the bow.

"No. No way am I wearing a bow in my hair."

"Come on its cute and it matches your dress."

"No. I look like a-"

"You look sweet. You're wearing it and that's final."

I frowned. "Fine, are the twins ready?"

"Yes they're fed, bathed, dressed and ready to go, which we really need to do if we want to get there on time."

"Yes, you get your Grandmother and I'll meet you out front in five."

"Ok. Five minutes Eora." And with that she was gone.

Suddenly I was nervous. What if these five minutes are the last I ever spend in this room? Of course I'm being silly, every years the same. What if this and imagine if that but here's the reality: there's thousands of slips in that bowl, because I've signed up for three lots of tesserae, twenty of them have my name on them and only one gets pulled out. But then I'm worried again. Twenty slips with Eora Reagan written on them. I take one deep breath before going to get Dori and Raine and walking out the door and downstairs to meet Alara.

Alara and her Grandmother are waiting outside. When I see Mrs Winslow I gasp quickly. She's so frail, so thin, it's hard to believe she is standing up, let alone walking. Reyna Winslow is famous around the seam for living so long.

Alara looks at her watch dramatically, "Four minutes twenty eight seconds. I'm impressed."

I gave a nervous smile, "Told you we'd make it."

Raine frowned, "Eora where are we going?"

I took her tiny hand in mine, "We're going to the square, we won't be there long I promise."

When Dori saw me holding Raine's hand she grabbed my other one. I looked sympathetically at Alara and Reyna. I was going to help them but with the twins I had no hope, but just then a man I didn't know came up and approached Alara.

"Hello Alara. How are you?"

"Oh I'm fine Mr Rhoades, how are you?"

"Good, I'm good, a little nervous."

"Oh aren't we all," said Alara with a mesmerizing little chuckle. Alara was everyone in town's best friend, she was so cheerful and bright that people flocked to her just to chat and admire her.

"Would you and your Grandmother like a hand?" Mr Rhoades asked kindly.

"Oh I wouldn't want to be a burden," Alara said politely but we all knew how much she needed the help, tiny Alara didn't have half the strength to get her Grandmother to the square.

"Oh it would be my pleasure." He said and he turned around as if he was looking for someone. Finally he yelled out "Caden." All of a sudden a boy around my age emerged. He looked fairly familiar but I didn't know what his name was and now that I thought about it I was pretty sure he was in my year at school.

Mr Rhoades turned to the boy, "Caden would you please lend a hand in getting Mrs Winslow to the square."

"Sure father," he said and he turned and as he did he caught my eye. He paused for a small second when our eyes met but then quickly averted my gaze. I was a little confused but that wasn't the only thing about this boy that puzzled me. I never would have guessed that this Caden was Mr Rhoades' son. Mr Rhoades had auburn hair and fair skin whilst his son had dark hair and olive skin. Strange.

"Thank you so much Caden, so gentleman like." Alara said with one of her gorgeous smiles on.

"No problem," Caden said quickly glancing back up at me.

Dori started pulling on my hand urging me to start walking so off we went. With every step I got more anxious. District twelve didn't have the best track record in the Hunger Games. Our only living victor was Haymitch Abernathy, who won eight years ago, and has been slowly becoming less and less stable and more and more fond of his liquor. He's not that bad yet, not even in the same league as my uncle but he gets worse every games

It was almost two o'clock by the time we got to the square. I gave Raine and Dori a quick kiss on the cheek before handing them over to Alara for the commencement of the reaping. Alara hugged me before saying "Good luck," and then walking off into the crowd with my two baby sisters.

I go and join the rest of the sixteen year olds from the seam. A few are friends from school but most of them I don't know. We all act friendly and gracious but we all know that deep down we're all hoping that someone else is going to have their name drawn from that glass ball.

Then the town clock strikes two and, just like clockwork, the new mayor, mayor Undersee, steps onto the podium. I can see his very pregnant wife standing in the background. I feel almost happy for them, at least that's one child who will probably never have to deal with the hardships of the Hunger Games.

The mayor starts telling the history of Panem, the country that rose out of the ashes of a place once called North America. He talks about the disasters that swallowed the land and the wars over what was left and as a result we have Panem, the shining capitol ringed by thirteen districts a place full of peace and prosperity. Then the districts started the uprisings, the Dark Days. Twelve districts were defeated and the thirteenth was destroyed. A treaty of treason was created, new laws introduced and as our yearly reminder that the uprisings should never happen again, The Hunger Games.

The rules are simple, as punishment for our rebellion each of the twelve districts must send one boy and one girl to go fight in a huge outdoor arena and fight to the death. And so that we can appreciate what we've done we are all forced to celebrate it and watch the games. Only the people in the capitol actually enjoy the games, the districts sit in the shadows, blood boiling and resentment in the air. The winner becomes rich and famous.

When the mayor's speech is over Rubin Kiser comes up to the podium. He is the escort for the two tributes from district twelve and he gets the lucky task of drawing the names of the two tributes from the reaping balls. All the girls in the audience hold their breath as he speaks, his golden hair sparkling in the sunlight.

"Well no point delaying it any longer. Good luck to you all," he says as he walks up to the reaping ball with all the girls' names in it. As he sticks his hand into the reaping ball my stomach tightens and I feel like I'm about to throw up. He draws out a small piece of paper and reads the name off of it.

"Eora Reagan," he says and looks out towards the crowd, waiting to see which poor kid he's just condemned to death. No surely he didn't just say my name. No he means another Eora Reagan, not me. I'm just dreaming soon I will wake up and this will all just be a nightmare. But I'm wrong suddenly my legs are moving through the crowd towards the podium. My face is blank, hard. I can't show any emotion; this is where the games really start. I cannot seem fragile, I have to stay strong. I finally reach the podium and I look out over the crowd. I can see Alara quietly trying to hush down Dori and Raine who have confused expressions on their faces. Rubin looks me up and down, "Isn't she a pretty one?" I make no reply, my face doesn't change I just stare out into the faces of the people I have lived with for the last sixteen years.

Rubin shakes it off, "Now do we have any volunteers to take Miss Reagan's position as tribute?"

No hands go up, no voices cry out. I can't say I'm surprised. Who would volunteer for me? Alara is too old to participate, Dori and Raine too young. All my school friends have lives of their own too live and besides, I wouldn't want anyone to volunteer for me, I wouldn't be able to handle it.

"No. Alright then," said Rubin as he started walking towards the boys reaping ball. Once he was close enough to me and out of earshot he whispered a quick, "Sorry," before passing me. I want to tell him I don't blame him but I'm afraid that once I open my mouth I'll start to cry, so I just keep on staring ahead.

Rubin reaches the reaping ball and sticks his hand in. He finally fishes out another small slip of paper. I'm suddenly sympathetic. Whoever's name is on that slip is going to have their entire world tipped upside down just like mine. Then I'm anxious again. Whoever's name is on that tiny slip is going to instantly become my enemy, someone I have to kill.

Rubin reads the name off the slip, "Flint Valentine."

I hear a loud wail from the twelve years old area. A little blonde twelve year old boy slowly makes his way to the stage tears absolutely streaming down his face, low moans escaping from his chest. I'd never met this Flint Valentine but knew from one look, I could never kill this boy. Just look at him, he was so innocent and vulnerable.

Rubin stood awkwardly as the crying boy came to stand next to him. No little complimentary comment for this one.

"Alright anyone want to volunteer for little Flint here?"

I was hoping desperately, that he had an older brother or something, someone who would take his place, which I'll admit wasn't really that smart of me but it was only humane. Just when I thought it was over, that little Flint and I were on our way to the Justice building a voice rang out through the silent crowd.

"I will."

I stood in shock. Someone actually volunteered for Flint. I was both relieved and scared at the same time. The whole crowd began to whisper as everyone looked around to see who it was that had volunteered and I had to admit I was one of them. There was movement around in front of the podium but I still couldn't see my new fellow tribute. Finally he was up on the stage and as I saw him I let out a gasp.

Caden Rhoades.


	2. Goodbyes

**Goodbyes**

I flung my hand over my mouth, appalled that I had broken my emotionless masquerade. But I just couldn't figure it out. Why would Caden Rhoades volunteer as a tribute in the Hunger Games for Flint Valentine? As Caden reached the podium and stood next to Rubin he gave me the same little look he had when he was helping Reyna Winslow to walk to the square. None of it made any sense.

Rubin looked Caden up and down before asking him, "So what's your name?"

Caden looked up, "Caden. Caden Rhoades."

"Well folks I guess Caden here is our new tribute. Can we have a round of applause for our two tributes, Eora Reagan and Caden Rhoades!" Rubin says with as much fake enthusiasm as he can muster up. A small round of applause goes out amongst the crowd but it's not at all congratulatory, it was pitiful. The people of district twelve weren't like the people in the capitol, none of us liked the Hunger Games. We didn't enjoy seeing children kill each other for entertainment. We hated it, but what were we supposed to do? The capitol was all powerful. They say watch the games, so we watch the games, our mouths closed and obedient.

Caden and I were then escorted by peacekeepers to the justice building, where I was left alone in a very fancy room. Now that I'm alone I can't stop the tears from falling. I wasn't balling my eyes out like Dori and Raine do, I was just sitting quietly while long tears fell gently down my face. When I heard Alara coming in with the twins I quickly wiped the tears from my face. They can't see me like this, I'll scare them and for the next few months Dori and Raine are going to be scared enough. Alara came straight in and wrapped her arms around me.

"Oh Eora." She said with a creaky voice. Her eyes were puffy and red and within seconds my shoulder was drenched with her tears. Dori and Raine had started crying. I quickly went over to them and scooped them up in my arms. I tried to keep my voice as steady as I could considering that this was probably going to be the last time I ever held my sisters.

"Shh," I said as they cried into my arms, "it's ok. Now I'm going to be away for a little while, but I want you to promise me that you will be good girls and listen to everything Alara says."

They started wailing and struggling in my arms.

"Please promise me," I begged, the tears threatening to reappear.

They gave a slight nod through the tears and I smiled and pulled them closer. Alara couldn't stop crying.

"Alara, you can't let them go back to my uncle."

She didn't look up she just kept crying.

My voice got harder, "Please Alara. I'm begging you."

She gave a little nod and at the same time the peacekeepers came back in to take them away. We all yelled in protest before they grabbed all three of them and pulled them away from me. The twins started shrieking and wailing whilst they kicked in defiance.

"Please," I screamed, "They're only babies. Please."

One of the peacekeepers turned back around and looked at me sympathetically as they slammed the door between me and my family. I slunk down to the floor and put my head in my hands, but no more tears would fall.

My next visitor was my uncle. He walked in and fell over flat on the floor. He reeked of alcohol so much that I could barely stop myself from hurling. I didn't want to see him of all people. I was surprised that he even knew I was here.

"Hey gorgeous," he said in slurred speech, "Real shame this."

"Oh yeah I can see you're all torn up," I said glaring at the worthless figure on the ground.

"You know if you and you're cute little sisters had stayed with me you wouldn't have had to sign up for tesserae and you probably wouldn't be in this situation."

I just scowled at him in disgust.

"I'm just saying sweetie," he said as he stroked my face. I slapped his hand away.

"Don't touch me," I said venomously.

"Please I've heard that before."

"Yeah and I'm still saying no."

He snickered, "Your loss."

"Just go." I said as I pointed to the door.

He laughed evilly, "Fine thought you would enjoy the company but if this is the way you want to leave things between us fine." He said and he turned around and left.

For the next few minutes my friends from school came to say goodbye, that they were sorry and to cry sympathetically. I reassured them that I was fine and I pretended to act grateful for all the strategy tips they gave me but really I just wanted them to leave so that they could move on and I could be alone.

Once they were gone I was alone for a little while longer. I quickly tried to fix my tearstained face so that the cameras wouldn't be able to see that I had been crying. I was interrupted by one last pair of visitors. I quickly turned around to see Mr Rhoades and a woman that was very obviously Caden's mother. She looked exactly like her son, down to the finest detail. I could see that she had also been crying. How many people would have to feel this pain?

They came down and sat opposite me. We sat in silence for a little moment before Mrs Rhoades spoke quietly.

"We just-we just wanted to wish you good luck." She said, looking down at her toes.

"Oh. Well thank you, I appreciate it." I said awkwardly.

Mr Rhoades looked up at me, "Are your parents here?"

Mrs Rhoades looked up and hit her husband lightly on the shoulder. Obviously she knew about my parents.

"My parents are dead." I said plainly.

Mr Rhoades blushed, "Oh I'm so sorry."

"It's ok. It was a long time ago."

We sat in awkward silence for a while. Finally Mrs Rhoades looked at me again.

"I'm sorry but, do you know my son very well?" she said, her eyes glossy with oncoming tears.

"I'm sorry, no. I recognised him from school but I only learnt his name today." I said in a slightly puzzled tone. Why did she want to know whether or not Caden and I were friends?

"So you don't know why he's-why he's done this?"

"No, I'm sorry." I said sympathetically as Mrs Rhoades started crying again, "Don't you?"

Mr Rhoades put his arm around his wife and slightly shook his head. I looked up and saw a peacekeeper standing in the doorway.

"Times up." He said and he walked towards Mr and Mrs Rhoades as if expecting a struggle. Mrs Rhoades quickly got up and quickly gave me a hug. I stood there surprised and perplexed as she embraced me and the next thing I knew they were gone and I was on a train to the capitol.

I sat on my bed in a daze. At best I have a week or two left to live and yet suddenly everything felt like it was going so much faster. I looked out my window and was startled to see that it was dark outside. Had I really been sitting here for that long? Just in that second a man knocked on my door and called me for dinner.

With the very little energy I had left I got up off my bed and walked down the corridor to the dinner table. Haymitch, the drunk I was talking about before who just happens to be my new mentor, was already there along with Caden and Rubin. In front of them were platters and platters of the most delicious looking food I had ever seen. I sat down enthusiastically without looking at any of the three young men around me. I grabbed a piece of meat and dug right in. Caden followed my example and the two of us stuffed our faces whilst Haymitch and Rubin attempted to make pleasant chit-chat to fill the silence. Once we're finished dinner and I feel like I will never be able to eat ever again they bring out desert and I start all over again.

Whilst I was quite content to just sit and eat all night the TV turned on with a recap of the reapings and Rubin insisted that we watch.

"Just do what he says and it will all be so much easier," Haymitch said and I could taste the white liquor in his breathe, making me convulse.

As we watched I tried my hardest to remember the names of tributes but I was just so exhausted that I could only remember some of the faces of the most memorable ones. There was a tall, strong looking blonde boy from district 1, a twelve year old girl from 3, a pair of volunteers from 4; the girl was so huge and so bulky that I mistook her for the boy as they stood next to each other. Another twelve year old from 6, a scary scar faced boy from 9, and another twelve year old from ten.

What really stunned me was the number of tributes that had volunteered. I had counted three already and we were only up to district ten and I knew there was definitely one to come. I chanced a quick look at Caden. He was looking at me again so I quickly turned back around and focused on the TV screen again, only to see another volunteer, a girl who spluttered and cried as she took the place of a young girl who had to be her sister. When it came to district twelve and Rubin starts drawing out the names I had to turn around and face the back wall.

"I can't- I'm sorry I can't." I said as Caden came up to stand next to me.

"It's ok," he said softly, "me neither." I realised that those were the first words that Caden and I had ever said to each other. I stopped and frowned for a second: why did that matter?

After I heard Rubin speak and the applause of the crowd I turned back around to see a young girl on the TV promising that this year will be the best Hunger Games ever before Rubin turned off the TV. Haymitch was standing there, an amazed expression on his face.

"Six volunteers," he said awed, "That has to be some kind of record." Woops I must have missed one. I was tired ok.

Rubin gave a small nod, "It is: I heard someone talking about it earlier. And three twelve year olds, another record," he said turning to face Caden and me, "You're year is breaking all kind of records it seems."

"Yay us," I said sarcastically.

"Well sorry to break up what has obviously been an absolutely enthralling dinner but if I don't go to bed soon I'll not be able to get up tomorrow morning," and with that he left, but not before he had a little stumble and walked into the door. Rubin laughed so loud I thought he might be drunk too and Caden and I smiled for the first time since the reaping. Haymitch turned around and gave us a very rude hand gesture which made Rubin laugh even harder.

"Well I better get some rest too," he said after he caught his breath, "Don't you two stay up too late. You have a big day ahead of you, meeting your stylists, getting dressed for the opening and so on."

"We won't," said Caden as Rubin left. He turned back to look at me, as though he was expecting me to say something. We stood there staring at each other for a moment until he turned around to leave.

"Wait Caden," I said just as he reached the doorway, "I'm sorry I know that I don't know you very well but, I have to know, I mean I think I have a right to know, why you did it?"

"Did what," he said as he turned back around to face me. It was the first time I really stopped to look at him. His dark hair was straight and thin and his eyes were a very piercing blue that stood out from his olive skin. His full lips were a dark red and his shoulders were broad. He was a fair bit taller than me and his arms were strong and toned. I'll admit he wasn't bad to look at, in fact he was actually very good looking. This newfound discovery made me a little embarrassed and intimidated and, ok, a little light-headed.

"You know what."

He stood in silence, looking at the ground.

"Did you know Flint Valentine? Lord knows you weren't related to him but was he your friend or something? Is that why you did it?"

He waited a few seconds, "Yeah. He was like my little brother."

I was sceptical, "How old is he?"

Caden thought for a second, "Twelve."

"Where does he live?"

"The seam."

"What colour is his hair?"

Caden stopped. He looked around the room quickly, "Dark."

I smiled, "Nope,"

"I meant brown."

"Not even close: it's blonde," I paused to look at him. He wouldn't meet my gaze, "You don't know him. You'd never met Flint Valentine."

"So what?"

"So why'd you do it? Why did you sacrifice yourself for him?"

"He's twelve years old. I did the right thing."

"I don't think that's it," I said stubbornly, "You have another reason."

"No I don't. Now that kid has a chance to do something with his life."

"See that would make sense if you were like forty. But you're not, you're sixteen. You're hardly ancient."

"You never know, Flint could grow up to become a doctor or a pharmacist or- "

"A miner like everyone else in district twelve." I finished for him.

"He could get married, have kids."

"And you couldn't?"

"No...it wouldn't have happened for me." He said looking down at his feet again.

"Why not?"

"It...It just wouldn't have happened ok."

I frowned, "Why do you keep talking in past tense, like you're already dead?"

His voice grew cold, "I am already dead."

I stood there staring for a second. If Caden thought he was going to die, why did he volunteer for a kid he never met? Why did he have so little faith in his abilities?

"You have every chance of winning you know. You have every chance of going back."

He turned around and walked to the door. Just as I thought he was going to leave he turned his head and spoke over his shoulder.

"I'm not going back."

And then he was gone, leaving me even more confused than I had been. Well who cares about him. He was probably going to be dead in a week or two anyway so why bother with him. I went to bed angry and exhausted but no matter how hard I tried I simply could not sleep. I knew that wasn't it. He had an ulterior motive: that was the only explanation. Eventually my exhaustion won out and I blacked out.

I don't know what time it was that I woke up, I'd guess around ten in the morning, because breakfast had already been served and Caden and Haymitch were sitting at the table, silently rubbing it in my face. At the sight of them finishing off their food my stomach groaned and I was suddenly famished. Haymitch belched and laughed at the same time.

"If you're hungry sweetheart just ask for some more food. You need to put a few more kilos on those bones of yours- just look at you, there certainly isn't much there."

Whether he was commenting on my weight or just insulting me I didn't know, but him being a rotten drunk and all, I'd opt for the latter. I didn't say anything just glared at him with as much venom as I could, until my stomach growled again, ruining the whole effect. Haymitch just laughed.

"What no little snide remark, no sassy response. Guess I was wrong about you."

That got me going, "Well what did you expect from a pretty little district twelve girl in a white dress?" I said remembering the way Rubin had labelled me as a pathetic little doll from the first moment he laid eyes on me.

Haymitch laughed again but his eyes showed no humour, just that annoying, drunken sarcastic look he always has, "Well I don't know what the little girl in the white dress but I expected a little fight from a girl who's lost both her parents, her step father and raised two kids for the past four years."

I turned my glare to Caden. There's only one way that Haymitch Abernathy knew anything about me. Caden couldn't look at me; he just looked down at his plate, that same emotionless expression on his face again. Haymitch looked back at Caden and then back to me.

"Don't blame the boy, I knew your story, heck everyone in twelve knows your story, I just didn't put the name and the story together."

I refused to talk to him. I was still hungry and I wanted food. I turned around to walk out the door when Haymitch called out again.

"So where is it? Where's the fight, where's the sass, where's the fire?"

I turned back to look at him, and for the first time in a while, I saw in him the boy who won the 50th Hunger Games when I was eight years old. But then I smelt the liquor and knew that boy wasn't there.

"I don't know Haymitch," I said viciously, "Maybe I just lacked inspiration. You know I expected something from the guy who won the Quarter Quell eight years ago, but he doesn't have any fight left either does he."

Ok I'll admit it was an absolutely terrible thing to say. Obviously Haymitch has been through a lot. His Hunger Games were the worst I'd ever seen. Quarter Quells come every twenty five years. Each Quarter Quell something even worse happens to determine who goes into the arena. The year Haymitch won was the second Quarter Quell and in honour of it twice as many tributes had to enter. Haymitch won, but forty seven other kids will never come back from that. I think the Quell before that they had to vote for tributes or something horrible like that.

This time it was Haymitch's turn to be silent and glare at me.

"You know my step father used to talk about you, before he died. He said that thing you did with the force field and the axe, genius. He used to say you inspired him, that you'd used the capitol's defences as a weapon of your own. He said you had real guts, real fight. So what about you Haymitch, where's your fight gone?"

We stood scowling at each other for a very long time. Caden sat awkwardly looking back from me to Haymitch waiting for one of us to say something. Eventually he got up to leave but Haymitch just raised one hand, signalling for him to stay put.

"Don't move Caden. The three of us need to talk about things, but first," he turned back to look at me. "I like you. You've got something, something I haven't seen in any of my tributes yet. But if you ever bring that up again..." he said and he just left it hanging.

I looked at him with a puzzled expression, "What, was that a compliment Haymitch?"

He laughed his annoying sarcastic laugh again, "Treasure it sweetheart. You won't get another one."

He looked around the cabin nervously as though he was looking for something, what I'll never know.

"So once we get to the capitol you'll meet your stylists and get dressed and prepped for the opening ceremony. I don't know who your stylists are or what they're like but I do know this, whatever they give you, take it and be grateful. No complaining or fussing, you get what you get whether you like it or not so if I was you I'd just like it. Got it?"

Caden and I looked at each other. We both knew that twelve had a horrible record with outfits. You're costume for the opening ceremony has to have something to do with what your district produces for the capitol. For example district seven is timber and district eight is textiles. Twelve is mining, so normally we're just in skimpy mining outfits or black suits to make us look like coal. Pathetic I know.

Caden and I mumbled in dissatisfaction but Haymitch didn't care. He just kept talking.

"Tonight after the ceremony we will go over training plans and the like and I'm sure Rubin has a lot to do before you're ready for the public, but that is all tonight's problem. For now I have a little game for you to play."

I just looked at him, the look obviously expressing exactly how I was feeling, irritated and so not in the mood.

"The two of you are going to sit here and make a list of all the tributes you can remember. You don't need names or anything just a little description of what they looked like."

I rolled my eyes, "Really Haymitch?"

He rolled his eyes back at me, "Lesson one: know the enemy. You need to learn all you can about these kids if you want to survive in this arena." He said as he passed me a pen and a notepad, "Have fun kiddies."

I glared into his back as he walked away. Caden looked at me before saying, "You really don't like him do you?"

I snorted, "He just reminds me of someone I don't like that's all."

"Your uncle?" Caden guessed with no real emotion in his words, just a statement.

I had no idea how he knew about my uncle but in truth I didn't care. Ok that's a lie, but I didn't want to care so I pretended not to care. Hey don't judge me, if a guy you'd known for all of one day came out and said that he knew personal details about you you'd want to know why as well.

"Yes," I said awkwardly. I passed the notepad and pen to him, "well let's get this thing over with."

Caden drew up a table on the piece of paper. On the left hand side of the page he had written the numbers from one to twelve and he had divided the rest of the page into two other columns, one headed 'boy' and the other 'girl'. He wrote 'Caden' and 'Eora' in the two columns next to the number twelve.

"Nice start," I said smiling slightly. Caden didn't smile but I could see him fighting a small grin. Go figure.

"Ok let's start with district one. What do you remember about them?" he said looking back up into my eyes. I lost my train of thought for a second. His eyes were just so blue.

Snap out of it!

I gave my head a light shake. I tried to remember the tributes from last night.

"Umm... The boy was blonde. Tall and strong looking and blonde, very blonde."

As I spoke Caden wrote down in his messy handwriting, "Tall, strong, blonde," under the boy for district one.

I thought my hardest about the girl. Nope, nothing. Not even a hair colour or a size.

"Sorry I have nothing on the girl."

"Velvet," Caden said plainly and he wrote it down on the page.

"Pardon?"

"Velvet, that was her name."

I was amazed that he could remember any names. I was having trouble remembering what her face looked like let alone what her name was.

"Wow. Well what have you got on the two from two?"

"Sorry I can't remember anything."

"Neither. There was a twelve year old girl from three."

"And the two volunteers from four."

"Oh yeah the snake like boy and the huge masculine girl." Caden kept writing as I spoke, probably to have to hide another smile.

"What else do you remember?" He asked, "Maybe it's better to just write the ones we know and the others might come to us."

"Well there was the twelve year old boy from ten. Oh and scar-face from nine."

"And the other twelve year old girl from six." Caden added as he made the adjustments to our list, "That's all three twelve year olds. Maybe we can remember the volunteers next."

"Well there was the two from four, and I think maybe one from two was a volunteer."

"Yeah you're right the boy, the red haired one. And the dopey looking boy from seven was a volunteer wasn't he?"

"Yes and there was the one from eleven, the dark skinned girl who volunteered for her sister."

"Right, that's all of them." Caden said with something that was almost enthusiasm.

"No that's only five and Haymitch said there was six."

"No we've got all six," Caden said quietly, looking at his toes.

"No. We said the boy from two, the pair from four, the boy from seven and the girl form eleven. That's five-"I said confused. Who were we missing?

"And me." Caden said softly.

"What?"

"And me. I'm the sixth."

Oh crap. How stupid of me. I forgot the boy sitting right next to me.

"Oh right, Sorry."

"That's ok," he said, coming back to look at me again. He gave me a little half smile. Hey that was better than nothing.

"You going to tell me why you did that yet?" I asked lightly.

No answer. I guess not.

"Well that's about all I've got. Do you remember anyone else?"

Caden stared at the wall for a second. "The girl, from eight. She was seriously thin, kind of sickly looking. And her hair was dark but she was very fair."

I didn't remember her, but I'm not surprised. The only people I could remember had some defining characteristics and this girl seemed normal from Caden's description.

Caden stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, the concentration on his face becoming unnerving.

"Nope. That's all I've got." He said with a sigh.

We called Haymitch back in and when he saw our list he looked anything but pleased.

"That's pathetic," he said, and I could smell that he had been dipping back into the liquor cabinet, "I had Rubin tape the reapings from yesterday. Watch it again then finish the list."

Caden and I looked at each other, let out a deep sigh, and sat back down in front of the TV.

It wasn't long after Caden and I had redone our list (poorly according to Haymitch) that the train was suddenly plunged into darkness. I let out a quick gasp before instinctively grabbing onto Caden's arm. He turned his head to look at me, then looked down at where my hand was gripping his arm, then back up at me. My eyes followed his before I had realised what I had done and quickly retreated my hand.

"What the hell was that?" I asked, my voice catching.

"Tunnel," he said simply, his eyes still on the place where I had reached out for him.

Suddenly I was angry. Yeh so what, I was a little jumpy, who could blame me, I was probably going to be dead soon. That doesn't give Caden any reason to look at me like I was diseased or something. I was just about to really give him a piece of my mind when Rubin entered the room.

"We're getting close now," he said with fake enthusiasm and a fake smile.

Caden and I looked at each other, both of us thinking the same thing. Caden even rolled his eyes, one of the only displays of emotion I'd seen from him all day.

"You don't have to do that Rubin," I said coldly. I still hadn't forgiven him for that little stereotype he had accidently given me, "You don't have to pretend you enjoy this, or try to make us think that this will be a great experience or something."

He gave a small sarcastic smile, "Can't blame a guy for trying."

"Why do you even bother," Caden asked, "I mean do really expect us to be grateful for being dragged into this?"

"For one, it's kinda in the job description. And secondly Mr Rhoades, I would expect this," Rubin paused to wave his hands at me, as though he was trying to think of the right words, "this sarcastic, cynical, pessimistic kind of attitude from her, she _was_ dragged into this, however you are a volunteer, you were not dragged into anything."

Rubin looked at Caden with clear smugness and satisfaction in his eyes. I turned to look at Caden and I imagine that I had a very similar expression on my face. I couldn't help but feel a little bit better knowing that obviously I wasn't the only one who wanted to know why Caden was here. Also I liked Rubin a little bit more. Ok so maybe I was being a little bit childish to be mad at him for something he didn't even know he'd done, he probably just said I was pretty to, I dunno, fill the silence.

Caden made no response, but if someone had been looking really closely they might have been able to see that his cheeks had reddened ever so slightly. I turned back to Rubin,

"So why do you do it?" I asked, "Why do you just sit here and watch year after year whilst the kids you have to teach die on your watch."

Rubin's face darkened, "Ok first none of them ever die on my watch, they all die on Haymitch's watch. I have absolutely no influence on what happens in that arena, unlike Haymitch who is practically your lifeline whilst you're in there. Secondly, it's only been three years since I started doing this, so for now, it's bearable." He stopped for a moment to catch his breath and quickly brush a lock of thin blonde hair from his face.

For a guy from the capitol, Rubin was surprisingly normal looking. I mean he didn't have any tattoos or piercings, even his golden blonde hair looked natural. The only thing that looked even a little bit odd about him was the colouring of his eyes, a strange dark blue colour. Looking closer I realised they weren't blue at all, they were a deep purple. Ok that couldn't be natural.

I quickly snapped out of my stalkerish observation state when Rubin started speaking again.

"And thirdly, what makes you think that I'm here by choice. Maybe I'm as much of a prisoner as you are."

Oops. I hadn't even considered that. I had always thought the Hunger Games was a game designed for twenty four. Now I'd realised that there were many more players.

Rubin saw the confused expression on my face, "The first year I applied for the job. Once they decided I was young enough, attractive enough, they gave me to district twelve. But that first year both my kids were killed in the bloodbath and I realised I couldn't do this anymore. They told me not to leave, but I had to."

"Yet here you are," I said, trying to keep the accusation from my voice.

"Every man has a price. They found mine." He said quietly, the absolute despair on his face made it pretty obvious that Rubin's price wasn't one that had anything to do with gold.

"What was it?" I asked quietly.

"A girl," said Caden expressionlessly. I turned to look at him. How on earth would Caden have any idea what happened to Rubin? Hold on... a girl. Well that would make a little bit more sense. Did Caden Rhoades understand Rubin's position because he himself had been put in a similar one?

Rubin turned and glared at Caden, "My little sister. They knew threatening my life wouldn't work, so they threatened hers."

As the three of us stood in silence the train pulled out of the tunnel and back into the light. It hurt my eyes a little to suddenly be able to see everything again, but there was so much to see. The wealth of the capitol was even greater than I had ever seen on TV. There were so many huge buildings, so many cars and busses and trains. The glistening town was covered in freaky looking people wearing strange clothing, who all stopped to stare and point at us as the tribute train drove past them.

Rubin took a step towards the door. "When we get to the Remake centre you will be prepped to meet your stylists. Just so you know last year my tributes were stark naked with black powder all over them." He said with a playful smile on his lips, "Just warning you. Have fun." And with that he was gone.


	3. Transformation

The Price of Beauty

Ouch.

Pain.

Hot, searing, splitting pain all over my body. That was the only single thought that I could think whilst my prep team ripped every single hair from bare body. Not to mention the stink of the smorgasbord of different chemicals being used on my hair, nails and face.

My stylist still hadn't shown. Felicia, a middle aged woman with bright pink hair, lips, eyes and teeth said that it was because Macie didn't need to be here until I was presentable, which apparently was code for hairless. She was the one who was yanking all the hair off me. Yvette, the young woman with so many piercings on her face that it was impossible to even see the outline of her eyebrows or lips, was fixing my nails with a long file and some clear polish that smelt so artificial it made me want to hurl. And finally there was Kaci, whose speckled gold skin would have been freaky enough on its own if it hadn't been covered from head to toe in thin, black tattoos. I really wanted to ask her why she died her skin gold but I thought it might be a little bit rude. Kaci was the one rubbing some creamy ointment stuff all over my body to make it clean and soft. I was a little bit worried thinking that my life hung on how soft my skin felt.

Apparently there was some _huge_ dilemma regarding the colour of my nails. Yvette didn't want to paint them yet because Macie had specifically said that she needed the colour of my nails to match the colour of my dress. I have to admit at this stage of the conversation I was a little bit worried, although relieved that I had a dress, but terrified that apparently nobody knew what colour it was going to be. Despite Yvette's complaints Felicia, who seemed to be somehow in charge, decreed that we were on the clock and the nails had to be done now. Eventually a stalemate was called and the three decided it was time to call Macie.

Finally I had a moment alone. I looked myself up and down in the mirror. The patches of skin that had only recently had Kaci's cream rubbed on them were still a little red from the wax but apart from that my body still looked fairly normal. I spent a few seconds trying to decide whether I thought this Macie was going to be a girl or a boy. Macie sounded like a pretty feminine name but hey, this is the capitol. After what felt like hours waiting for my prep team to return I heard the door slowly starting to open. I quickly grabbed my robe and swung it around my naked body, just in case.

What I saw next completely stunned me. It was Rubin.

Well Macie could have been Rubin, except her golden hair was longer, only long enough to touch her shoulders, she was much smaller and obviously was a woman. I stared at her for a few seconds trying to figure it all out. Then I remembered.

"_My little sister." _That's what Rubin had said the Capitol was using to keep him as an escort. What better way to keep an eye on Rubin then to flaunt their power over his sister right in his face. It was cruel, though that's in character.

Macie gave me a warm smile as she walked in, completely oblivious of my prep team, who were shouting and cursing at each other right behind her.

"You must be Eora," Macie said and she came up and shook my hand. God she looked like her brother. Again she was strangely normal looking for a capitol girl, let alone a stylist, but again just like her brother, had those strange purple irises. She was very petite, even smaller and thinner than me. She couldn't have been more than twenty five just looking at her and since Rubin was about that she must have been even younger.

"You must be Macie," I said smiling back. It was hard not to like her; just from knowing her all of two seconds I could tell she was a bright, bubbly kind of person. The kind of person who brightened a room when she walked into it.

"In the flesh," she said with a dramatic little twirl, "Are you hungry?"

Ok so that took me off guard," Starving."

"Good. Follow me," she said as she walked through another door that led out into a sitting room. I didn't even bother to look around the room because my eyes were straight away pulled straight to the giant tray of food sitting on the table in the centre of the room. I followed Macie as slowly as I could as she went and sat on one side of the table. I politely sat on the other side and waited for her to have some food. She looked at me with a humorous little smile on her lips.

"It's ok, I've already eaten."

I looked back down at the gigantic tray of food. This much food would be enough to feed my family for months. There were platters of chicken, beef, lamb and all different kinds of breads, cheeses, fruit and salad not to mention the huge bowl of soup.

"This is all for me?" I said, trying and failing to keep the astonishment from my voice.

Macie laughed, "Well your mentor did say that you'd missed breakfast so they gave you an extra large lunch."

Damn, I totally forgot about that. I made a mental note to kill Haymitch when I next saw him because if he hadn't got Caden and I to play his stupid little game, I wouldn't be half as hungry as I was now.

I dug right in now fully aware of my completely empty stomach. Macie let me eat in silence for a few minutes before starting to talk.

"Now about you're costume," she said and I inhaled a little too quickly whilst swallowing a large spoonful of the best tasting soup in the whole world, and started coughing and spluttering. Macie gave me a light pat on the back before continuing, "Now I know you're probably a little worried about what you'll have to wear, heck when I was told I was going to be given district twelve I was a little nervous myself. You can't exactly be that original in a mining district."

I sat in silence, too nervous to touch any more food until I knew a little bit more. Sure, as a person Macie was lovely and sweet but she was still really young and I wasn't completely confident her skills, considering she probably only got this job so the capitol could kill her if they had to. Knowing that sort of information, well, it's enough to make you have a few doubts.

"But then I thought," she started pausing for dramatic effect, like a storyteller retelling an ancient myth, "well sure you're a mining district, but what if a played with a few strings. In twelve you mine for coal, yes?" She asked and I gave a little nod, not quite sure where she was going with this.

"But coal isn't the only thing someone has to mine from the ground. Think Eora, what else can you get from a mine."

I paused to think. I didn't really see why this was relevant, I mean, in twelve the only thing we mine is coal. Why does it matter what else other people could be mining?

"Umm... I don't know...metals like...gold?" I asked softly.

"Yes. And?"

"Uranium?"

She rolled her eyes, "Yes I'm going to turn you into a piece of Uranium. Come on Eora, think."

"Umm... Gems and-" I started looking all around the room for some kind of clues but she cut me off.

"YES. I'm going to turn you into a gem."

I stood my eyes bulging for a small second. I had to admit it was a great idea, but it seemed so...extravagant, a word that has never been used to describe me in my entire life.

"Umm... do you have any particular kind of gem in mind?" I asked quizzically.

"Well the dress I've prepared has two layers, the top layer being very thin and almost completely see through. It's the undergarment that's going to be coloured. You see I had no idea what size my tribute was going to be, what colour hair she would have and what colour skin tone. I had so many different coloured undergarments made so that we could pick the one that is perfect for you."

I had to admit, I was extremely impressed that she'd thought this far ahead, not that I really cared what colour my dress was. I hadn't quite finished eating yet but as I was one thought popped into my mind.

"What about Caden?"

Macie looked puzzled for a second.

"Pardon?"

"Well you can't exactly turn him into a gem can you? What has his stylist done?"

Macie let out an exasperated sigh, "Oh I really don't know. His stylist, Verity, wanted to go with this whole get up of the two of you in big yellow overalls like you were real miners but I ran my idea past the head gamemaker and he loved my ingenuity. I tried to get Verity to make him something similar to your dress but to be completely honest with you she's a total idiot and you can only take so much before you give up."

I gave a small laugh before forcing one last piece of chicken down my throat. Even though there were still platters and platters of food left I simply could not fit another mouthful into me. Macie stood up and led me into a huge, high ceilinged room with clothes absolutely everywhere. She walked past a huge line of mirrors and cupboards and straight over to a clothes rack that would have had to be a least twenty metres long by itself. I could barely look at it without getting a headache. There were so many colours, some I couldn't even put a name to. Looking at all those clothes I never would have thought that it was possible to make so many shades of colours that looked exactly the same to me. It was only after my eyes refocused that I noticed that they were all the same dress. Well obviously they were all different dresses but they were all exactly the same style. Long and thin with a small trail and thin straps to drape around my shoulders.

"Wow," was all I could say looking at all these dresses, "You're not going to make me try all those on are you?"

Macie laughed, "Please, if I did I'm not sure you'd make it to next year's games let alone these ones. No we'll just walk you slowly down next to the clothes rack and I'll pick the ones I think will suit you.

And so I walked at a snail's pace beside all of the dresses and Macie walked next to me with a focussed look on her face. Every so often she would stop me for a moment, stare from me to one of the dresses behind me, then say 'yes' or 'no' and keep walking. Whenever she said yes, one of my eager prep team members would come and grab the dress she had accepted and come back to line up silently behind us. Finally after I had walked up and down next to the clothes rack Macie had picked out seven or so colours for me to try on. Looking at them I was relieved that the majority of them were not bright colours.

The first two, which both looked identical to me, were both a deep scarlet. Yvette had sighed wistfully as I walked out with the first one on, however Kaci had insisted that that shade of scarlet was hardly flattering. Macie just sat and stared, completely ignoring the futile remarks of my prep team before telling me to try on the next dress.

After an hour I had tried on all seven, some more than once. After we had abandoned the sunflower yellow, the salmon, the violet and the coral coloured dresses it was finally decided that my undergarment would be midnight blue. I had to say as it was probably my favourite, only because it wasn't bright and/or extravagant.

After what seemed like hours more work I stood facing a long mirror, finally seeing the finished product. Just like after Alara had done me up before the reaping, I could barely recognize myself. I looked, well kind of pretty. My face was lathered with make-up so it looked flawless, my eyes surrounded by so much thick black eyeliner that they looked even more green than usual. My hair seemed somehow darker after all the products had been used in it and it had been styled into loose curls around my face. To match my midnight blue costume I had on a thin layer of dark blue eye shadow, as well as matching nails. As well as this my entire body had been covered in blue tinted glitter. But the really beautiful thing was my costume. The thin midnight blue undergarment was completely obscured by the most beautiful dress I had ever seen. It was low cut and tight around my chest and around my waist, until it flourished out in lots of thin, translucent, ruffled layers. Yet somehow upon all these layers and the bodice of my dress were tiny, transparent crystals that, thanks to the undergarment, were all reflecting the blue underneath. Around my neck and wrists I had thin silver chains adorned with blue gems. With all the little pieces I really looked like a gem. The word sapphire came to my mind, although I don't have any idea how I knew that.

Macie was smiling as I looked myself up and down in the mirror.

"Satisfied?" She asked playfully.

I opened my mouth but I couldn't even find the right words.

"Completely. Everything is so gorgeous."

She beamed at me, obviously glad to be acknowledged and appreciated.

"You look beautiful. Thank goodness I got a naturally pretty tribute or I would have been in trouble," she said warmly and I blushed, "Caden and Verity should be here soon. We really need to get moving if you want to make the opening ceremony."

As if on cue there they were and as soon as I saw Caden I could barely contain my laughter. As it turned out Verity had decided to go with a similar theme to Macie and try and turn Caden into a gem as well. That is how Caden Rhoades ended up before me in a tuxedo. But oh not just an ordinary tuxedo, one that looked like it had been decorated with a bedazzler. His jacket was covered in little green crystals but not half as elegantly as the ones on my dress. Yet despite this he still managed to look like himself, because he had absolutely no makeup on and his hair didn't look any different to when I'd last seen him. Still I would never let him live down that blazer.

When he saw me he literally stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes widened for a split second as he took in my whole extravaganza. I imagine he was just a little jealous that I had a brilliant stylist like Macie and he ended up wearing that. Then he looked up and met my eyes with that annoying expressionless tone that he always seemed to wear. I looked over at his stylist Verity and almost gasped when I saw her. She had had so much plastic surgery that she quite literally couldn't move her face. While I was trying to decide if she was really human or not she started looked over at Macie.

"This was a horrible idea. We should have gone with my idea." She said as she looked me up and down, a hint of resentment in her eyes.

Macie sighed, "Oh well, next time Verity," she said as she quickly turned to roll her eyes at me.

We were quickly ushered down to the bottom level of the remake centre, where all the horses that pulled our chariots were held. District twelve's horses were all coal black to fit in with the whole coal theme, which would have been alright if I wasn't completely dressed in blue. I looked around at all the other tribute's being loaded into their chariots before my eyes locked with one of the boy tributes. I recognised him, the blonde boy from district one. Even after re-watching the reaping Caden and I still didn't know his name. Dressed up like he was in his fancy clothes and his blonde hair ruffled ever so slightly so that he had that kind of neat messed up look, he looked, well how to say it simply, _gorgeous_. I hadn't noticed it before but he was really, really, really good looking. Being attractive isn't technically a requirement or strength in the hunger games, but pretty people always seem to get the most sponsors. He gave me a warm smile and a quick thumbs up before hoisting himself up into his chariot. Caden frowned slightly as he helped me up into our chariot. I was so scared that I was going to tear my dress that I even let him lift me up, which trust me, wouldn't have normally happened. That whole chivalry thing, in my opinion, was dead a _long_ time ago. As Caden stepped up into the chariot Macie ran around to my side and quickly whispered in my ear.

"Remember to smile like you've never smiled before. With these people first impressions are really important. You never know who might be in that crowd, hopefully someone rich who wants to sponsor you." She gave me a warm smile, "If I was you I'd give them all a wave and a few little 'hellos' just to be on the safe side."

I smiled nervously, "Thank you Macie, thank you so much."

She smiled again, "No problem. Knock'em dead! They'll love you!"

Then the opening music began, so loud that I almost jumped right out of the chariot. The ride we have to take lasts around twenty minutes and we end up right in the centre of the capitol. There we get a big welcome and are then escorted to the training centre, which is where we'll live and train until the games. The doors opened and the district one tributes were pulled out of the remake centre by four snow-white horses. I noticed the blonde boy waving and smiling so genuinely that he even had me fooled. Even then, I had that guy pegged as a really huge competitor in these games.

The tributes from two lake their places at the front and follow them out. Before I know it Caden and I are almost at the front of the queue. Caden quickly turned to me.

"Just so you know," he was yelling but I could barely hear him over the music, "You look really pretty."

Well that took me by surprise. I smiled and blushed and tried to think of something to say.

"Well I don't even recognise myself. At least you look like you."

Caden frowned again, "I recognised you."

Before I could respond or ask him what he meant by that our black horses had drawn us right up to the gates for our turn to go. I took a deep breath.

"Ok let's get this over with."

And with the biggest and cheesiest smile I could muster up, out of the gates I went into the bright lights of the capitol.


	4. Journeys

Journeys

Eyes. Thousands upon thousands of people all herded together like farm animals, were all staring in the same direction, at me. I''s hard to not be a little intimidated and a tad self-conscious when there are that many pairs of eyes on you, let alone the extra hundreds of thousands that were probably watching me live on TV. As well as that the light was so damn bright that it was hard not to raise my hand to block the light from my eyes. Nevertheless I was smiling so hard that my jaw was starting to ache and I was losing feeling in my fingertips from all the waving. I tried my hardest to look as many people in the eye as I could but there were just so many people.

I chanced what was meant to be a quick glance at one of the giant screens but my eyes seemed to be drawn to the screen once I had seen it. My costume, as stunning as it was in plain light, apparently was even more so with this much light being shone onto it. Thousands of tiny blue sparkles were covering me from head to toe, I looked... well dazzling for lack of a better word. And on screen I looked totally believable as this pretty, friendly, uncomplicated girl whose smile was a little too big and waved with a little too much enthusiasm. However I have to say that I could probably only accomplish that look standing next to one of the most sombre looking, statue like human beings on the entire planet. Caden wasn't smiling, wasn't waving, wasn't anything. It was so frustrating watching him sign his own bloody death certificate that I felt like I could turn around and slap him straight across the cheek. But of course I wasn't going to not with this many people watching me. I realised that I must look a little bit self obsessed staring at myself on TV for such a long time so I quickly jerked my head away from the screen and looked back down at the people.

I couldn't remember most of the ride down to the City Circle, or the majority of the people I saw, however there was this one little girl that I saw. It must have been just before we reached the end of our ride and I was starting to get into a rhythm of scanning the crowd so I looked at both sides equally when I saw this little girl, probably no more than four or five, pointing at me. She had creamy white skin and thick, strawberry blonde hair that hung down past her waist in gentle waves. Her mouth was wide with awe and she pulled on the sleeve of the woman standing next to her, probably her mother. As she saw me looking at her she gasped and pulled even harder to get her mother's attention and when I waved at her she gave the most gorgeous smile I had ever seen. It was just little things like that were enough to make a person feel totally blissful inside. Then again when you have two beautiful little sisters around the same age, it can also make you feel incredibly angry that you will never get to see them smile like that ever again.

I was totally distracted by this cute little girl that I was not prepared for the chariot to go over a small bump in the road and through me completely off balance. My foot slipped ever so slightly and I could feel gravity quickly pulling me down. I shut my eyes, waiting to hit the ground, but I never did. I opened my eyes, relieved but confused at the same time, only to find that Caden had in fact grabbed my wrist and kept me from falling. He quickly let go of my wrist once I was stable again and awkwardly stepped a little but further away from me. I tried not to be offended and just be thankful that I wasn't lying in a pile on the ground but I've got to say... he was really starting to get to me.

Finally we made it to the City Circle. Our horses pulled up alongside the other eleven chariots, next to the President's mansion. A small burst of anger started to build inside of me looking at the huge, magnificent building. Dozens of people who had no place to go could fit in a building that size, yet our dear President Snow needed all that room for himself. That's justice for you. The music stopped and speak of the devil there he was. President Snow, a small, thin man with, ironically, snow white hair, gave the official welcome to all from a balcony above us. Once he was finished the National Anthem plays and all the tribute chariots did one final lap of the City Circle and then turned into the Training Centre.

Once the doors were shut behind us Caden and I were escorted out of our chariot by our prep team, as well as Macie and Verity. Macie gave me a proud smile as Caden lifted me down off the chariot.

"Well done!" she beamed whilst she subtly tried to inch away from Verity, "You looked gorgeous."

I smiled back, "Thanks to you."

She gave a dismissive little wave, "Hardly."

I looked around the swarm of prep teams, stylists and tributes only to find that some of them were in fact staring at me. Well perhaps they were actually glaring at me, I don't know. I was feeling very happy with myself and my costume(well who wouldn't when comparing one's self to the two tributes from four who were in fish suits) until I made eye contact, once again, with the blonde boy from one. He gave me a big friendly smile and a small wave before I quickly averted my gaze. Why did he keep doing that? _Because this is a game Eora. He's trying to intimidate you. You need to start playing to win if you want to survive._ I hardened my face to try and hide my confusion from the boy from one. Macie watched all this and frowned.

"That one I'd watch out for," she said plainly, "The nice ones are always the ones holding knives behind their backs'"

I took note of that as we walked towards a large crystal elevator that was apparently going to take us to our floor. The Training Centre contained a large tower designed specifically for tributes and their teams to live in before the games. Rubin was waiting for us at the foot of the elevator with Verity and Caden. When he saw us he gave the most wonderful smile I had ever seen on anyone's face. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that he wasn't smiling for me. When Rubin and Macie reached each other he picked her up and spun her in a circle, causing her to let out a high pitched squeal of delight that put a shiver up my spine, before putting her back on the ground, giggling like a child. It was the kind of thing you'd expect a father to do to his young, probably very young daughter, which pretty much explained their relationship for me.

Once the touching reunion was over between Macie and Rubin it was time to go up to our floor. Just as we were about to get in the elevator I noticed that Haymitch wasn't with us. I alerted Rubin who dismissed it with a shrug.

"He's probably just out drinking somewhere. He'll turn up eventually."

Finally we were all packed into the elevator and ready to go when we heard someone yell, "Hold the doors please." I personally would have just shut the doors at that point but Rubin being the capitol gentleman that he was of course obliged. Unfortunately he stopped the lift to let the entire district one team in; prep team, mentor, escort, stylists and worst of all, tributes. As the boy walked in and saw me have gave an amused smile and came to stand next to me. And so that is how I ended up in a much smaller feeling elevator between the boy from district one and Caden Rhoades. If that wasn't the most potentially awkward situation I had ever been in I didn't know what was. Now before you hear the next part you have to know that I had only been in an elevator once before and that was when I was in the justice building yesterday. But that elevator was totally different to this one; for starters it was dark, dank and slow as anything. So when this elevator took off at the speed of light in comparison and stopped within the blink of an eye, I... well... stumbled and fell into the arms of the nameless boy from district one. If this situation hadn't been awkward before it certainly was know.

"Steady," he said kindly as he carefully placed me back on my feet, "You alright?"

I gave a small nod because I was still a little shaky but I was hardly going to say that to him was I. He smiled playfully as he looked towards the door and said, "This is my stop." As he passed through the door he turned around and gave a quick, "Bye," before the doors shut and he was gone.

Caden quickly turned, held out his arm and said monotonously, "Maybe you should hold on so you don't fall again."

As much as I really didn't want to have to use him to support me he was right and I wanted to fall into him even less than I wanted to lean against him. So just before the elevator shot up again I held firmly onto his forearm with both hands and closed my eyes. We were at our floor in a matter of seconds and I didn't even look like I was going to fall. The doors opened and I stepped out, glad to be on solid ground once again. However I couldn't be all that glad because I was looking into the most expensive looking room I had probably ever seen. The furniture was all plush and made of so many different fabrics and materials that I had never even imagined could have existed. There were buttons and electronic devices everywhere and I was sure that I had no idea what ninety nine percent would be used for. I could go on but my mind couldn't hold everything. It was just so extravagant and pointless all at the same time. People love here for something like three days a year so why all the fuss? Caden was the only one still standing next to me taking it all in, probably I guess because everyone else was used to it all.

"Home sweet home," he said sarcastically. I couldn't have agreed more.


	5. Emotions

Emotions

As much as I loved looking like a human kaleidoscope I thought it was probably a good time to go have a shower and get the huge amounts of glitter and makeup off my face and body. It took me forever to get the stupid shower ready because there were so many different options to chose from; how hot did I want the water, how much pressure did I need behind it, do I want soap if so how much soap do I want, so I need special dandruff reducing shampoo, the list goes on and on and on. Once I had finally finished getting all the glitter off I stepped out of the shower onto a mat which released a whole lot of warm air with a loud 'whoosh' and before I knew it my whole body was dry. Startled I almost fell onto the marble vanity beside me. I put my hand on a box on top of it and a small current passed through me drying and untangling my hair. I stroked my fingertips through my soft, shiny hair in amazement and disbelief.

After another extremely long period of time trying to figure out how to use the wardrobe and finally getting something comfortable to wear I was called out of my quarters so I could go to dinner. I was surprised to find out that Macie and Verity were eating with us but I can't say I wasn't glad. I was really hoping that Macie and Rubin would talk so we could avoid the awkward situation that we had last night. I was even willing to settle for Verity just blabbering about pointless things just to fill the silence. I was placed in a seat between Verity and Haymitch, who had apparently just come back from the opening ceremony, and across from Rubin, who had Caden on his left and Macie on his right. Once I sat down I could smell something reeking of alcohol and I had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't coming from Verity.

A serving man came around to the table and offered all of us a glass of wine and everyone except Haymitch refused, except as he went to pick up the glass in front of him his hand slipped and he spilled the horrible smelling white liquid all down his front. As much as I despised him it was hard not to feel a little bit better now that he'd made a complete fool of himself. We all laughed, well all except one (three guesses who) and Haymitch glared at us all and attempted to yell at us but his speech was all slurred and none of us could understand what on earth he was saying.

Once again we were fed with enough food to feed a whole building for a year. All the food looked absolutely amazing and looking at it I was reminded of just how hungry I really was. But as I started eating the feast set in front of me I couldn't help wondering if Alara was as hungry as I was now that she was taking complete care of Dori and Raine. I hadn't even finished my soup when the guilt of it all made me feel fuller than I had in my whole life. I simply couldn't eat another mouthful if I tried. I pushed my bowl away from me and looked back up. I realised that Haymitch wasn't eating either, though now that I thought of it I didn't think he'd eaten last night either. Strange. But he definitely wasn't depriving himself of his wine. Glass after glass seemed to disappear in seconds that it almost looked like he was just inhaling the stuff. It made me feel sick to my very core but I wasn't going to say anything with everybody else here.

In my thinking state I had become totally oblivious to the conversations going on around me. I decided it was probably a good idea to listen just in case anyone was saying something important.

"Apparently," Rubin said as he swallowed a mouthful of chicken, "Your costumes were a huge hit. Everybody loved you two, especially you Eora, once they got past the confusion trying to link your district to the costumes."

I smiled nervously and my cheeks started to get hotter. Well what are you supposed to say to that?

Luckily Rubin was too immersed in his food to notice and just kept going, "Of course once they had all heard that the President himself had supported these costumes they were even more excited," he said in a nonchalant kind of way, as if this was just a side note.

"What?" I exclaimed with a little too much shock.

Rubin finally looked up from his food, a placid expression on his face, "Didn't Macie tell you. When she came up with this idea she thought it was best to check with Snow to make sure that it was acceptable." He stopped to take a small mouthful of roast lamb before continuing, "When the President heard her idea he loved it and he was even more impressed when he actually saw it," he said as he beamed proudly at his sister.

I however frowned at her, "No Macie did not tell me that little detail."

Macie widened her eyes and theatrically made her face look much younger and much more innocent. "Really does it matter _all _that much?"

I couldn't help smiling, "I suppose not. But it would have been nice to know."

Verity gave an exaggerated snort, "I still say we would have been better off with my idea. You know last year I..." and that's when I tuned out because as much as I wanted to hear Verity's life story I was exhausted. I don't know how long Verity rambled on for but she still hadn't finished after everyone had finished eating. I looked at Macie and tried to mouth out the words, "What do we do?" She just shrugged and went pack to picking at the food she wasn't going to eat that was still left on her plate. After what seemed like an eternity Verity declared she was tired and was going to, quote, "retire to her quarters." As soon as she was out of the door Haymitch said what we were all thinking.

"Thank god she's gone," he slurred and he had to stop for a second because he got a sudden but very serious case of the hiccups. Once he had drowned them in liquor he started again, "She is terrible," he turned to Caden, "How did you stand it for what...four hours maybe?"

Caden didn't smile or laugh; he just said plainly, "It was not without difficulty."

Macie laughed unfortunately just as she had taken a sip of water. She spat it all out over the table and all over Verity's empty seat and I couldn't help wishing she was still sitting there, just because I'd love to see the expression on her face. After Rubin had given her a small pat on the back to stop her chocking/coughing fit Macie also decided she needed to go to sleep and Rubin followed his sister, anxious no doubt to spend more time with her, leaving Caden Haymitch and I.

"And then there were three," Haymitch said as he hailed a serving girl down with another glass of wine. At that point I couldn't take it anymore.

"How can you honestly still be drinking?" I asked him, the accusation in my voice unmistakable.

Haymitch looked at me, his eyes drooping and miserable, "It's been a long day."

"No need to tell me, I know. I suppose it was a long day yesterday as well."

His voice was tired and frustrated, "yes it was."

"And I imagine tomorrow will be as well."

He didn't reply, just took another sip.

"In case you didn't know after, what is it now, eight years, we have our first training session tomorrow and Caden and I don't have any idea what to do."

Haymitch still wasn't answering me but I had Caden's attention now.

"But you do. You're the one with the experience. Now you need to use that so that hopefully we don't die the second we get into that arena. So tell us, what should we do tomorrow? You don't even know what our strengths are, what our weaknesses are, because, oh that's right, _you haven't asked us._"

Haymitch grumbled something in his half dazed state.

"What was that?" I asked the anger boiling inside of me.

"Tomorrow. We can do all this stuff tomorrow. But for now..." he said as he signalled for yet another drink but I got up, hit my fist on the table and gave the serving girl a look with enough venom that she didn't even dare bring that drink anywhere near Haymitch. Finally I had had enough. I was emotional, I was tired and I was furious and I wasn't going to put up with him any longer.

"I know this is just another games for you, just another year and that we're just another pair of tributes you have to send off to die. But for us, this is it. These are the only games for us. So we would appreciate it if you could stop wallowing in self pity long enough to get up and help us. If not, you might as well sign our death certificate's now."

And with that I walked out into the living room, slamming the door behind me. I wasn't quite ready to go to sleep yet; I still had too much adrenaline pumping through my veins so I sat down on the couch in a fury. A few seconds later I heard someone lightly shut the very same door I had slammed just a moment before. I looked up and Caden was standing just a few feet away from me.

"What are you doing?" I asked puzzled. He really didn't have to follow me.

He shrugged, "I thought it was appropriate after your speech."

We sat in silence for a minute or two, both of us expecting the other to speak.

"I never thanked you for catching me when we were on the chariot," I said eventually. Caden didn't seem to even register that he'd heard me say anything, his piercing blue eyes didn't leave mine, his face didn't change.

"It was nothing," he said as he brushed off my gratitude.

"And for helping me in the elevator. I'm really not that clumsy normally," I said trying to smile.

"I know," he said plainly.

I was really over this whole thing by then. "And for helping me in and out of the chariot, that was really...sweet."

"Thanks," he said quietly as he looked down at his toes, obviously not comfortable with taking a compliment.

That did it. I couldn't take it anymore. He was like a robot; he still had skin and bones but no emotions, which made absolutely no sense to me because I had enough to go around all on my own so I snapped.

"What's with you," I said stepping in forward to meet him. He took a step back but didn't answer, "you're like dead inside." I stood and waited for him to retaliate. But I got nothing.

"You have no backbone." I yelled. Again no response.

"Nothing. You're weak, a coward," I said stepping in again. He stepped back but quickly turned around to see that the wall was getting closer and closer with each step. He was going to have nowhere to run soon. Good.

"Nothing. You're like that wall. You don't feel anything."

Still no response, but he kept his big blue eyes locked on mine.

"Nothing." I decided words weren't going to get me anywhere. I pushed him; well I attempted to push him. He was up against the wall now, cornered.

"Nothing." I reached my hand up to his face and slapped him right across him cheek. He made no reaction.

"Nothing." Finally I was desperate to find some human emotion, some redeeming quality in him. I lent up on my toes, closed my eyes and gently pressed my lips against his. He just stood there, his eyes wide and emotionless as I retreated.

"Nothing." I said finally, accepting defeat. But before I could walk away Caden grabbed hold of my arms. He picked me up and turned us around, so that I was the one against the wall, the one cornered. He stared into my eyes again, but this time I could see something, an emotion, a feeling in the shape of his face and the light in his eyes.

Desperation.

Suddenly his lips were on mine, warm and soft, but the force and the passion with which he kissed me took me completely off guard. I felt like I should be struggling, protesting but I was still so shocked that I just closed my eyes let his hidden emotions entrap me. His lips moved urgently across mine, his warm breath making my skin tingle. One of his hands moved to the hollow of my back whilst the other became entwined in my hair. Then just as quickly as they had come his lips were gone, and for just one second I almost felt like dragging him back in close to me, until I realised how appalling that was. He took a step back, drew a deep breath, reminding me of the moment just a second ago when we had breathing together, and spoke one word.

"Something."

Then he turned around and walked back out of the room, leaving me standing in the very same spot against the wall, wondering what the hell just happened to me.


	6. Strategy

Strategy

Don't ask me how long I stood there because I have no idea. I was in a place out of time where a second seemed to last hours but when I moved it was as if no time had passed. _What was that? _Did Caden Rhoades seriously just kiss me? I had to keep asking myself over and over because it felt like such a stupid thing to think that it just couldn't have happened, right? I mean this was _Caden_ we were talking about here, _Caden Rhoades_, who never smiles or laughs or gets mad or yells. But in that moment he had been someone else, someone who really did have feelings and could be completely and totally selfish and passionate. That couldn't have just happened. But then a small thought popped into my head, that I couldn't decide which was more unrealistic, or more disturbing; that Caden, Caden Rhoades had just kissed me, or that I had kind of enjoyed it?

Confused, infuriated and suddenly exhausted I finally moved away from the wall and dragged myself to my room. I didn't have the energy to change so I just plunked down on my huge plush bed in the clothes I was in and closed my eyes, begging for sleep to come. But it wouldn't. My brain was totally wired and was not going to relent. I don't even remember falling asleep, only waking up when I saw the thin rays of the sun just rising, filtering in through my window. I tried as hard as was physically possible to fall asleep again but I was always one of those people who couldn't go back to sleep after they woke up. My step father had been like that to. I remember one night when I was eleven or twelve years old and I had had a nightmare and woke up in a cold sweat alone in my room. When I couldn't sleep I crept out into the living room just to sit and wait for the sun to rise but then he was there to. He was afraid that the two of us would wake mum but she was the world's heaviest sleeper. I used to joke and say she would sleep through a nuclear war, Ok so maybe I wasn't the most normal kid on the planet. So he told me loads of stories from when he and mum were kids until the morning broke. He used to swear that even back then he had wanted to marry her but my dad beat him to it. Lucky for me I guess.

Since I wasn't going to get back to sleep anyway I decided it was probably smart to start getting ready. After I'd finished in the shower I came back out to my bed and realised that my clothes had been laid out for me. Apparently I had to wear tight black pants, a loose cream tunic and black leather shoes. As I looked out my window I noticed the sun had barely risen and thin rays of pink light were bathing the city in their warmth. I didn't really know if breakfast would be served yet but I was surprisingly hungry and I figured I might as well go check. When I reached the dining room there was nothing on the table but there was a long buffet table with more than twenty different platters of food. A man stood next to the table, making sure not to make eye contact with me.

"Do I just get the food myself?" I asked feeling a little bit stupid having to ask such a bleatingly obvious question but the fact that someone had to stand guarding the food unnerved me a little.

The man didn't reply but gave a small nod and looked away again. Whether he was not allowed to talk me or he was just plain rude I don't know but it was hard to care with so much delicious looking food available. I grab a huge plate and pile on some bacon, eggs of all different varieties, sausages, bread, fruit and cheese as well as a bowl of steaming oats and a large glass of some kind of juice. Just after I had sat down and started to eat I heard a door slowly crept open. I looked up and discovered that I was looking up into the eyes of Caden Rhoades. Embarrassed I looked back down at my giant plate of food and attempted not to look at him. After he had got equally as much food as me he sat down next to me and for a few moments we sat in awkward silence. Then both of us tried to speak.

"I was thinking-" I started as he said, "I just-" and we both stopped to let the other speak. After a few polite, "No you firsts," and a couple of "No I insists," I spoke.

"I've been thinking a lot about our..." I looked over at the man standing next to the buffet table, who seemed a little too innocent as he stared at the ceiling, looking a little like an eavesdropper who had just been caught, "Our discussion last night and I think I got what you were trying to say."

Caden raised one of his eyebrows and said, "Go on."

"You were just trying to prove me wrong, right? That you actually do have feeling and you're not like a wall or a robot at all. You're really just hiding your emotions, like I hid my tears from the cameras on reaping day, except instead of the cameras, you're hiding from everyone. Right?"

"Right," he said and sighed with what I guessed was relief.

I waited for an explanation. When I didn't get one I decided to ask for one.

"Why is that exactly?"

"I guess it's just easier to be less obvious on screen if I'm not jumping back and forth between being open and being closed all the time."

I paused. That actually kind of made sense. I couldn't help wondering if I had been the one to do what Caden did if he would have called me on it like I did, which led me to assuring myself that I would never have kissed him. Then thinking about it I did actually kiss him first. But that was different; I was just trying to get him to open up to me. Well it worked didn't it?

"Well whether either of us likes it or not we're kind of in this together for now," I said softly, "You can trust me."

He looked deep into my eyes, as if he was just checking to make sure he could actually trust me. He gave a small nod and I continued.

"So can we just make a mutual agreement to be honest with each other, because seriously if see that stupid expressionless look on your face ever again I might just have to strangle you."

He beamed at me, his smile warm and kind and I couldn't help thinking how awful it would have been if he had hid this smile from the rest of the world for the rest of his life. We continued eating in silence again, but it was much less awkward now that all that was resolved. Caden finished eating much faster than me and once he had finished he just watched me with a small smile on his lips. After I had finished all my food, spare my oats, I decided that I still had one piece missing.

"So why'd you kiss me?"

He looked at me gently but a touch of confusion in his eyes, "Come again?"

I took a quick mouthful of oats before speaking, "Well you could have yelled at me, could have hit me, could have broken out in tears," I said which was greeted with a snort, "but you didn't, you kissed me. So why did you kiss me?"

He didn't panic or go on to the defensive, just smiled playfully and retorted, "Well why did you kiss me first?"

Totally unprepared I swallowed my oats to fast and started coughing and spluttering which made him burst out with laughter.

"Touché," I wheezed. I did not want to answer that question because, well, I didn't really have an answer.

"Well?" he said deviously. Thankfully I was saved by Rubin and Macie, who conveniently happened to walk in at that very moment making it impossible for me to answer. They walked over to the buffet table, passing the serving man, who had possible the largest smile I had ever seen, on his face, as though he was just about to absolutely crack up. It took me a second to realise that he had just heard our entire conversation. I quickly glared teasingly at him and moved one finger over my lips. He let out a quick chuckle before regaining his composure and followed my example and moved one finger over his lips to show me that he wasn't going to say anything.

"Good morning my lovely tributes!" Rubin said enthusiastically as he sat down next to Caden, his plate considerably less full than mine or Caden's had been, "How did we all sleep?"

"Fine thankyou Rubin," I said trying to use as much enthusiasm as he had, and failing miserably, while Caden said, "Alright I suppose."

Macie sat down on my left but she didn't have any food with her, only a small cup of some rich smelling brown liquid. When she saw my confused expression she said,

"I don't eat breakfast."

See that was a concept that totally didn't sit well with me. When you have regular access to so much food I could not understand why you would neglect to eat it.

"Why not," I said trying my hardest not to hide the accusation in my voice.

Macie shrugged as she said, "I get sick easily. After a while Rubin and I realised that if I ate food in the morning I was more likely to get sick than I was if I skipped breakfast. So I just stick to my coffee."

Ah. That made more sense, still I only wished that I had had a similar luxury when I was living back home of just choosing not to eat.

We sat in silence for a few moments before Caden quickly spoke.

"Hey, where's Haymitch? And Verity?"

"You probably won't see Verity all morning. She's a really heavy sleeper and won't even dream of getting up out of bed before noon." Rubin said between two mouthfuls of egg, "Haymitch is just probably recovering. Anyways are you two excited about training today?"

Excited was probably the last word I would use to describe how I was feeling about training. Nervous, anxious, terrified, all those words would come much closer to how I was really feeling. For the next three days all the tributes train and practice skills together and on the third day we each have to perform privately in front of the Gamemakers. For one, I don't know anything about weapons or fighting, I grew up without anyone to teach me any of those kinds of things. My dad died before I was old enough and my step dad was only around for a couple of years. The only thing he really taught me that might have come in handy was how to swim. There was this lake out in the woods past the fence that surrounds district twelve and my step father used to take me out there to swim with him. He said his father had taught him and that it was important I learned because it might come in handy some day. I remember thinking back then that the real reason he wanted to teach me how to swim was because he loved me and he wanted to protect me anyway he could because he knew that he couldn't protect me from the one thing he really wished he could, my name on a small piece of paper in a glass ball.

Yeh so bottom line, no I wasn't excited about training. But I was hardly going to tell Rubin that was I?

"Yeh I'm really pumped," I said which made Rubin beam and Caden roll his eyes.

Finally Haymitch arrived and he followed Macie's example and didn't take any food, but I don't think his illness was quite as justified as hers, being self induced and all. He looked awful but he got right down to business.

"So if I'm going to help you two we have a few details to straighten out first," He said as he sat down next to Rubin, "Firstly you have to decide if you want me to coach you together or separately."

I looked at Caden and he looked at me. Not two minutes ago I had told him we were in this together. Would I sound like a complete hypocrite if I opted to do this alone?

"Why would you want to coach us separately?" Caden asked, turning to look at Haymitch.

Haymitch shrugged, "One of you might have a skill you don't want the other to know about, for when you're in the arena."

Caden looked back at me.

"I don't have any skills," I said quietly, a little embarrassed, "So I don't mind being coached together."

"Me neither," Caden said with a smile. He turned back to Haymitch, "You can coach us together."

Haymitch was staring at the both of us, "Seriously. Neither of you has any kind of secret ability or backyard hobby that you could use here? Give me something I can work with here, some idea of what either of you can do?"

I stared at the ceiling, trying as hard as I could to think of some secret skill that I may have possessed. Nothing, I came up with nothing. I never wrestled with other kids, or went and chopped firewood, never even gutted a fish with a knife. Though something Haymitch had said was nagging at my brain, something about backyard hobbies. The only thing I remember doing in the backyard of my apartment building was throwing this old ball that my step father had found. He and I would through that ball for hours on end. I was really good at it; I could hit targets he set from a fairly long distance. I once through that ball so hard at him that when it hit him in the ribs he bruised for a week. After that he had me throwing at the wall more than at him. I wasn't really sure whether Haymitch would care about that but I figured he should know anyway.

'I can throw," I said nonchalantly.

"Throw what?" he asked, "Knives, spears?"

I rolled my eyes, "A ball. I can throw a ball."

Haymitch frowned. He looked all around the table and quickly grabbed Rubin's butter knife. He looked around the room, his eye catching on a big fluffy blue pillow about ten metres away. He passed me the knife and nodded his head at it, saying, "Can you hit that?"

I stood, knife in hand, my mouth open. I looked up dubiously.

"You really want me to hit that cushion...with a butter knife."

Haymitch didn't look humoured. "Yes."

I sighed, took a deep breath and turned to look at the cushion. Admittedly it was an ugly thing and I'm sure no one would miss it if I did hit it, but this seemed like such a strange thing to have to do. All eyes were on me as I focused hard and tried to remember throwing that ball with my step father. I wound up and threw the knife as hard as I could. I didn't see it fly, only saw a huge eruption of feathers when it hit the pillow and heard a loud, "RIP" sound as it went completely through the pillow and cut the carpet. I turned back to look at the others with an apologetic look on my face.

"Oops."

Haymitch just laughed and smiled. "Well that wasn't half bad. Here's what I want you to do. When you're at training you don't want to show anyone what you can really do. So when you get up to the knife throwing station I want you to completely bomb the first five knives you throw, then have one real throw, then bomb the next five then have another real one and so on and so on so it looks like you're a real loose cannon." He exhaled quickly, "Anything else."

"Nope, I've only got one secret almost talent."

Then Caden spoke for the first time since Haymitch arrived.

"No you've got another one." He said with a smile.

I frowned, "I do?"

He smiled again, "I remember when I school used to have running races and you would run so fast that they had to put you in the boys races a couple of years above you so that you could have a challenge. Even then you'd still win. You can run so fast that everyone else was completely amazed by you."

Ok so maybe I forgot to mention that. I did remember that but I didn't think it was really a skill that could be useful for training. True it will probably come in handy when I go into the arena but for now I can't really use that. Mind you I'm surprised that Caden even noticed that, considering I didn't even know his name until a few days ago.

"Is that true Eora?" Haymitch asked.

I shrugged, "Yeh that's true, I just didn't think it was worth mentioning."

"Speed is just important as strength in a game of survival Eora, don't forget that."

I grumbled under my breath, declaring that I didn't need a lecture from him on forgetfulness, but I didn't want to seem rude in front of Rubin and Macie. Haymitch turned to Caden.

"What about you boy? You got any special abilities?"

Caden frowned, "Not that I can think of, no."

"That's alright; you look kind of strong so I'm sure you'll pick something up. Anyways we really don't have much time left to talk about this because you have to go if you want to make it on time so here are my basic points. Learn whatever it is you think you'll need but don't act obtrusive. We don't want you to look like too big a threats to any of the other kids. Eora practice with those knives, Caden I recommend something big and heavy. Last of all, if you want to be in any kind of alliance, it's time to make some friends, but be careful who you start to trust, because most importantly you need to remember that this is game, and everyone is playing to win."

Caden and I nodded and then got up to leave the table. Macie and Rubin wished us good luck and Haymitch told us that we'd have to report absolutely everything to him. As we stood and waited for the big glass elevator to come to take us down to the training floor my stomach began to get uneasy. As the doors opened and Caden and I walked through them I took a deep breath and mumbled as quietly as I could, hoping that Caden wouldn't hear me speak.

"Game on."


	7. Training

Training

The training room was huge. Well bigger than huge, filled with dozens of weapons stations, obstacle courses and various other skill stations. Caden and I were the first two to arrive so we had absolutely no idea what we were supposed to do while we were waiting. A small girl came and pinned something on my back and as I turned and tried to read what it said I saw that she had also pinned the same thing on Caden's back: a number 12. After that it was a good ten minutes before the two tributes from six came down. The boy was about my height but his features seemed young, definitely younger than me, maybe fourteen or so. The girl must have been one of the three twelve year olds because she was tiny, barely reaching my shoulder. And when she came and stood near Caden I almost started laughing at the height difference, but then again he was four years older than her.

The rest of the tributes started coming down more frequently after that. Within five minutes at least half of us were standing around anxiously. When the two from nine came down I almost gasped looking at the boys face. His scar didn't look half as bad as it was when I saw it on the television the other day. It was a thick, uneven red line that started at the top right corner of his face then cut across his forehead, ran down in between his left eye and his nose then finished at the left corner of his mouth. I didn't mean to stare for so long but it was so horrific that I couldn't drag my eyes away from it. I didn't even realise for a few seconds that the boy and girl from one had just emerged from the elevator. When I saw him I did a quick turn on my toes to face Caden.

"Pretend we're having a really interesting conversation," I said fighting the urge to look over my shoulder and make sure the boy hadn't seen me.

"What's wrong?" Caden asked humorously.

"The boy from one."

"Oh, the one from the elevator."

"That's the one."

Caden looked over my shoulder, "its ok he's gone to talk to someone, you can turn around."

I sighed with relief and turned back around. Caden was right he had gone to talk with someone else, or more correctly some other people. He and the girl, Velvet I remembered Caden saying her name was, had gone to talk with the two from two and two from four. Trust. Districts one, two and four are the wealthier districts. It's technically against the rules for tributes to be trained for the hunger games before they enter but most of the time the ones from one, two and four will have had some kind of training. In district twelve we have a special name for them, the Career tributes, or just careers. The six of them were probably the least tense, except for maybe the girl from two, who looked like she was freaking out just a little bit on the inside. The last pair of tributes to come down were the two from three. This time I did gasp when I saw them because if I had thought the girl from six was tiny, then the girl from three must have been miniscule. She didn't look a day older than nine years old, let alone twelve. She was small and pale with long white, blonde hair and huge eyes. I couldn't help wondering why someone hadn't volunteered for such a cute little girl.

I couldn't help looking around and checking out the competition. I really wished I hadn't. Most of them were taller, bigger and stronger looking than me. I almost felt envious of the disgustingly bulky girl from four, ugly as she was; being that strong had to help here. At least the majority of them were a skinny as me, the exceptions of course being the careers.

Now that everyone was there, the head trainer, a tall, muscley woman who introduced herself as Atala, stepped up and explained the training schedule to all of us. She said there were a variety of different stations, some that will teach us survival skills and others to teach us fighting techniques, and we were free to move from station to station as we wanted. There were always going to be an expert of each skill manning each station. Most importantly we were never to engage in any combative exercises with any of the other tributes. That made me laugh considering they were throwing us into an arena to kill each other off anyway, so why did it matter if a few dropped off before we got there.

Atala eventually released us and, shock horror, the careers all headed for the stations with the big heavy looking weapons. Well all the careers except for the boy from one who instead headed towards the rope tying station.

"See you at lunch," Caden said as he took a few steps towards the weightlifting station. Before he left he turned back, smiled and whispered, "Good luck."

Then I was left all alone, with absolutely no idea where to go first. Looking around I decided not to go to the knives or any of the obstacle courses first off, but made a mental note to at some point. Eventually I decided to go to the hunting station. When I was there I learnt a lot that I thought would be really helpful when I got into the arena, like where I was most likely to find wild game and I spent a half an hour or so learning how to gut a fish. When I was done there I decided that I should probably go to the edible plants station next while I was on a similar kind of wavelength. While I was there I remembered I didn't tell Haymitch about my third secret skill, I have a photographic memory. Admittedly I didn't think it would really be helpful to me in any way while I was in the arena, but I proved myself wrong. Although I can only do it when I'm really concentrating or I'm completely hopeless, like when I couldn't remember anything about any of the other tributes. Within five minutes I had memorised the names and appearances of everything on the table. The instructor was so impressed with me that he had me playing a little game where he'd point at a plant, I'd name it, say where it is found and whether it would poison me or not.

Since I was doing all the survival things anyway I thought I might as well learn to build a fire while I was at it. Obviously I had no idea how to do this so I kind of expected that this would take a little bit longer. Luckily I was the only one at the station at that point so the instructor was only too happy to give me his full attention. I'm serious when I say too happy, he was one of those perky people who always smiled and giggled and laughed and encouraged you. It was so frustrating, although he was patient with me as I was hopeless at starting a fire. It took half an hour for me to get the hang of it with him helping me. Eventually he asked me to give it a go by myself. When I had everything all ready to go I went to grab the matches to light the fire but I couldn't find them. Then I heard him.

"Looking for these?"

I knew who it was before I even looked around. His voice, strong with just the smallest touch of arrogance, was exactly how I would have imagined it to be. I turned around to see the boy from one standing over me, the box of matches in his hand. He handed them to me and I said a quick, "Thanks," before turning back to look at my soon to be fire. He sat down next to me and started building a small bonfire, waving the instructor away as he came to help him.

"You're Eora right?" he asked looking up at me but still building his fire at the same time. I gave a small nod but refused to look up at him.

"I realised I didn't introduce myself when we last bumped into each other," he said with a grin.

"Oh ha ha," I said sarcastically looking up to glare at him. He laughed and then said,

"My name's Jett," he said as I lit my match, "I'm from-"

"District one," I cut in. I put my match into my small stack of twigs and kindling and it was out before it even looked like it was going to catch. I cursed inside my head and got out another match.

"Yeah," he said smiling at my flameless fire.

I tried again with the same result, causing the boy, I mean Jett, to smile even wider. I looked down, my face flushed, and decided I'd try one last time before I moved on. This time looked more promising and I was starting to get excited when I could smell smoke. But once again my fire had not caught on, so then where was the smoke coming from? I looked over and saw that Jett's fire was now ablaze, huge and magnificent. I stared at it with an awed expression. I hadn't even given him the matches; he had lit that from scratch. He turned and smiled a warm smile at me.

"Here I'll show you," he said and he took the matches and lit one, "You need to put the match further under the kindling so it doesn't get blown out and that it can spread faster."

He took the flame and put it right under the centre of my fire and sure enough within seconds it was alight. I was frustrated and amazed at the same time. He smiled, handed the matches back to me and started to build another fire.

"How did you do that," I asked sceptically, "You didn't even need matches."

He turned back and smiled playfully, "Practice."

I rolled my eyes. Of course he'd practiced.

I stood up and said, "Well I concede." I turned to Jett and said sweetly, "So nice to meet you," Then walked off and said quietly, "Not."

I decided to get warmed up for fighting later by going to the sword station. I picked a relatively small sword but before I could start the instructor insisted that I put on some protective gear. While I was being padded up I noticed that Caden was at this station as well, bashing the crap out of a very well protected assistant with his broadsword. He was amazing, moving quickly and yet still he was still able to swing the sword with uncanny precision and strength. It couldn't have been easy, I mean I doubt I could even pick that thing up let alone swing it.

"He's not bad."

Jett had snuck up behind me with such light steps that I had no idea he was there until he spoke. I turned back around.

"No he's not bad at all," I said.

I had one clasp still to tie up but I couldn't reach it. Jett smiled and said politely, "Let me," as he did it up tightly.

"You're not following me are you Jett?" I said playfully.

He smiled at me but didn't falter, "Of course not. You and I must simply have a very similar station route planned out because I had always intended to come here next."

I couldn't help smiling. "Sure you did."

I looked back over to Caden just as he swung a huge outwards stroke and sent his assistant crashing to the ground. Caden quickly rushed to help him up and make sure he was ok. After that he put down his sword and turned around to come take off his protective gear until he saw me. His olive cheeks were a little flushed and a few beads of sweat trickled down his face. But his eyes were alight and joyful, that was until he saw me and his cheeks got much redder and his eyes took in the shock. A smiled and his cheeks got even redder and he smiled back shyly, modest as always. He walked over towards us and I noticed Jett looking back from me to Caden his mouth attempting to hold in a grin. I frowned at him quickly but then Caden was there.

"I never would have pictured you with a sword," he said and my face must have shown my confusion because he nodded towards the small sword in my hand.

"Back at you," I said teasingly, "You're kind of scary with that huge sword of yours. I guess you took Haymitch seriously with that whole 'find something big and heavy' idea of his."

Caden smiled, "I wish I could say the same for you. I know you're not big but I think you could have chosen something bigger than that over grown dagger you've got there."

Jett gave a conspicuous cough right at that moment causing Caden and I to quickly avert our eyes from each other to him.

"Oh sorry," I stammered, "Caden this is Jett, Jett this is Caden."

They shook hands and both mumbled a greeting.

"I should probably try and fit in one more station before lunch," Caden nodded politely to Jett and smiled at me with a quick, "See you later," then he was gone.

Jett turned to look at me, holding in his laughter as hard as he could. I had no idea what he found so funny but in all honesty I really didn't care. He brushed it off and held out his sword, which wasn't quite as big as Caden's but still not small.

"Could you hold this for a second," he asked sweetly batting his eyelashes at me. I tried my hardest not to smile but I couldn't and reluctantly held out my arm to hold his sword. It was much heavier than it looked and with only one arm trying to hold it as soon as Jett let go I didn't have the strength to hold it and it quickly crashed to the ground. This time Jett couldn't control his laughter and as he did his final strap up he picked up the sword with ease and was still laughing as he walked into the fighting area.

"Just in case you wanted to know," he said as his laughter died, "That 'overgrown dagger' of yours is actually called a rapier. I thought it was a very good choice."

"I didn't want to know but thanks anyway."

He laughed again and went off to face his assistant.

The instructor came over and tried to help me. Sword fighting was another thing I was not very good at at all. The instructor tried his hardest to show me how to block and to strike but I just felt like I was hacking at his all the time. Eventually it got tiring and I still really wasn't getting it. And to make things worse every time I looked over at Jett he seemed to be effortlessly attacking his opponent. He didn't look quite as natural or as strong as Caden had but he looked much more technical and he could predict almost every move that his assistant made. It was depressing. That made two things he was better than me at. I quickly gave up and decided to move onto another station. It was almost lunch time but I thought I had just enough time to fit in one last activity and since I was so horrible and sword fighting I thought I'd give archery a try.

The archery station was empty so I had the instructor all to myself. She tried to get me to follow her lead, she'd shoot one arrow and then I'd try and copy what she did. While she flawlessly shot and never missed the very centre of the targets I would hit the targets but never anywhere near the centre. I was happy that I could at least do that. After I'd shot a dozen arrows or so we had both wound up to shoot another and as the arrows hit the targets I heard three 'thumps'. One arrow, the instructor's white-tipped arrow, had, once again, hit the centre of the target. My arrow, the red-tipped one, had hit the second most outer ring of the target. Then the third arrow, a blue-tipped one, had hit the target only an inch or two from the white-tipped arrow. I turned around and I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see Jett standing there, bow in hand and a quiver of blue-tipped arrows over his shoulder.

"Now you can't say that you're not following me because once might be a coincidence but twice isn't," I said mischievously.

He smiled innocently, "Ok so _maybe_ I'm following you."

I smiled and looked back at where his arrow had hit the target, "Tell me, is there anything you can't do?"

He grinned slyly and whispered in my ear, "Please, you haven't even seen my _actual_ skill yet."

I rolled my eyes and put down my bow.

"Well you have fun amazing yet another instructor but you're too late, I've already declared myself hopeless at archery as well."

"You hit the target. That's much more than I could say for most people."

"Talented or not I'm starving. Make sure you don't impress too many people or you might find yourself labelled as a threat." And with that I walked off towards the gymnasium's dining room feeling very pleased with myself.


	8. The Opposition

The Opposition

For all of us tributes breakfast and dinner are served to us on our floors but for lunch, all twenty four of us had to eat in the dining room of the gymnasium. The food was arranged around the room on carts and like this morning we were supposed to serve ourselves. I was one of the last to enter the very quiet dining room. All the career tributes were sitting at one table, talking loudly amongst themselves, oblivious of everyone else around them. Well who wouldn't be, all the other tributes were sitting silently by themselves, all too nervous to approach each other. Neither Caden nor Jett, the only other two tributes I knew, were here yet so I became one of them choosing an empty table. Not long after Jett followed me, surprise I know. He grabbed his food, and, despite a call from Velvet to come join them at the career table, started walking towards me. Uh oh. I didn't want him to come and sit with me; that would be so awkward not just because everyone else was sitting by themselves but because what on earth would we talk about.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked, but quickly added, "Only if you could make room of course."

I looked up and glared at him but it didn't last long and I nodded towards the numerous empty seats. He smiled and sat down.

"So what's your secret talent Eora?" he asked, "You know I would have expected a girl from a mining district to be able to make a fire."

I raised my eyebrows, "What makes you think I even have a secret talent?"

He smiled deviously, "You've just kinda got that vibe about you."

"Hmmm... Well supposing I do have a secret talent, why should I tell you? Wouldn't that kind of destroy the whole 'secret' part of it?"

He leant in and whispered, "You can trust me."

"I don't know," I said leaning away, "It's just something about you, perhaps it's the fact that you're grinning ever so subtly, it seems untrustworthy."

He smiled even larger.

"Here's a deal, I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." I said playfully.

He snorted, "Mine's a secret I'll take with me to the grave."

"Then why do you expect me to tell you mine?"

He leant in even further, so close to my face that I could feel his breath on my skin.

"I can be _very_ persuasive."

I leant back even further, "Great way to try and earn my trust."

I looked over and saw the careers all laughing their heads off. I took particular notice of the huge girl from four, her huge bulky figure sitting as though she was so superior to all of us mere mortals. Jett followed my gaze.

"That's Angora," he said quietly, "She's from-"

"District four, I know." I interrupted. I wasn't quite as oblivious to my surroundings as he thought.

Jett rolled his eyes, "The snake-like boy, his name's Sylas. He and Angora have been training partners for ten years."

"Training partners?"

"It's a tactic that some really desperate people like to use. You get two kids, train them up for as long as you can, then when they're eighteen you have them both volunteer and hope that one of them wins. Angora and Sylas were both being trained from the time they were eight years old."

"And were you trained then Jett?" I asked. Well it would make sense, he's good at everything.

He gave a small laugh, "Firstly I'm only seventeen. Secondly I didn't volunteer and thirdly do I look half as scary as either of those two."

He had a point.

"Well who are the others?" I asked.

"The blonde girl, her name's Velvet; she's from one like me."

"She's gorgeous," I teased, trying to embarrass him but he didn't take the bait.

He shrugged and said, "Maybe, but she's dumb as anything. The other girl that's Dahlia, she's a little nervous. The boy from two, his name's Tripp. He's handy with a spear but he has dodgy knees so he shouldn't take too long to get rid of."

"Wow, how do you know them all so well?"

"I met them yesterday."

Ok that explains everything. Not.

"Do you know any who's not a career?" I asked testing to see just how much of a career he really was.

"Career?"

"Oh sorry, that's just what we call the people from one, two and four...no offence."

He made a dramatic, wounded face, "Offence taken. Well let's see..." he looked subtly around the room, he nodded his head in the general direction of a dark-haired boy around my age who was deeply engaged wiping spilt soup off his shirt.

"That's Donavon from six. And that girl over there," he said looking at a dark-skinned girl, "is Zaria. She's from eleven, volunteered for her sister." He kept looking around the room, stopping to nod at two girls over the far side of the room, "The one closest to us over there is Kaia from eight and the one behind her is Aylin from seven. The three twelve year olds are Rylee from six, Porter from ten and Serenity from three. Serenity is the really small one."

I was silent because I was in awe of him, "Is that all?"

He smiled but continued looking around the room, "Well I met the boy from five, his name is Keenan but I don't think he's here yet. I'll show him to you next time, he has bright red hair and is not very big."

Next time? What did he mean by that?

Finally Caden walked in and he looked all around the room. He smiled when he finally saw me, but that smile died a little when he saw Jett with me. He grabbed a plate full of food and came and sat with us.

"What's with everyone sitting separately," he whispered to us, but the girl sitting closest to us, Kaia I think Jett said her name was, heard him and gave a loud, 'humph,' just so he knew.

I shrugged and quickly said, "Jett's been filling me in on the names of everybody else. He's much better at remembering names than you and I were."

Caden smiled, "Well I met a few people, the two from nine, Davion and Bryanna."

"You mean scar-face?" I asked, "Did you ask him how he got that?"

Caden laughed, "Well I couldn't just ask him could I. That would be rude."

"In comparison, killing him later would be much ruder." Jett said as he chewed on a piece of bread.

Caden frowned, "I suppose it would."

"I'd kill to know, no pun intended, how he got that thing though. It looks really painful." Jett said cringing.

"I'd guess it was whip," Caden said, "Not many other things could have curved around his face like that."

"Urgh," I shuddered, "Thank you for the mental image."

"Sorry."

"It's alright. Did you meet anyone else?" I asked eager to change the subject.

"Yeah, I met a girl called Selah; I think she was from ten. And another girl called Dahlia but I don't know where she was from-"

"Two," Jett and I said in unison.

"Ok, that was creepy but never mind, oh and there was Bo from eight." Caden added frowning as he looked between Jett and me.

"I feel bad, I didn't meet anyone," I said which prompted a loud 'ah hem' from Jett.

"Sorry I meant I didn't meet anyone interesting," I said teasingly. Jett laughed and put on his wounded face again. Caden didn't laugh, he could be human Caden with me but with Jett he had to be robot Caden.

I had finished my food and so had Jett but Caden was still going when the instructors returned to their stations. I was eager to go back out and train but I felt bad for leaving Caden behind before he'd finished eating.

"You two go back out, there's no point wasting your time being polite and waiting for me," Caden said and he nodded towards the door.

"Ok," I said but I still felt bad, "I'll see you later."

"See you later," he said but he didn't smile until Jett had looked away.

I decided to go to the knife throwing station first since it being the least reliable of my three supposed secret talents I thought I better practice. And surprise, surprise Jett thought he would try out his knife throwing as well. I stuck to Haymitch's strategy, throwing four bad ones then one good one, then four bad ones then one good one so on so on so on. The instructor was absolutely terrified and absolutely amazed with me all at the same time. My good ones started to get really good, so good that I was hitting the centre of the target with so much speed and force that one of my knives went straight through it. Jett was once again consistently good at throwing the knives, never once missing the target but he wasn't nearly as good as I was. Once I was all practiced up I decided that I was going to try a few obstacle courses. As Jett, who had become my training shadow, and I walked over to the obstacle course he moved in close to me and whispered,

"Does he ever stop looking at you?"

I frowned, "Come again?"

"Caden. I've noticed it all day. Any time he's not doing something, like hacking a huge sword, he seems to be looking at you."

"I think you're exaggerating."

"I'm really not."

"Well how do you know he's not looking at you?"

"Because it started before I came over to talk to you."

Ok so maybe I didn't have any real answer. But I hadn't even noticed until Jett told me so what was I supposed to say.

"We're kind of friends; he's just looking out for me." I said shakily.

Caden sighed, "If you say so."

The obstacle course I chose was one where you had to run down the track, whilst dodging, jumping and ducking obstacles. I was really good at it, clearing it in less than a minute, and that wasn't even at my fastest. Jett was slower, but not all that much slower, taking only two minutes or so. I didn't think it was worthwhile to do it again considering I had cleared it so fast, so I decided to move on to the agility station. Here the instructor threw small objects at me and I had to dodge them. As quick on my feet as I was I never even looked like I was going to get hit. Eventually the instructor declared that she was too tired to keep throwing those things at me as hard as she could. Jett however was not nearly as good as me at this. While admittedly he wasn't bad, he got hit a good dozen times before he gave up. It was nice to finally beat him at something.

When we only had time for one last station, Jett suggested that we move on to hand-to-hand combat. Obviously I was not really looking forward to that. I'll say it one last time, I'm not big. I'm about five foot eight and I weigh about fifty-fifty five kilos. I'm not strong and I have absolutely no idea how to punch someone. Luckily I am fast which surprisingly comes in handy in fist fighting. While I absolutely could not lay a fist on my opponent he couldn't get one on me either because he couldn't touch me. Jett of course had his opponent down in like five seconds but mine took longer. I kept bouncy lightly up and down on my toes until I decided it was time to strike. I quickly flung out my leg to trip him, then sent me elbow out to meet his face as he came crashing down. When he was on the ground I quickly pinned him down and sighed a sigh of relief, when I was distracted by a small clap from behind me. I turned around to see the snake-like boy from four standing behind me looking arrogant as always. Had he watched that entire thing?

"Not bad, not bad at all little girl," he said, his tone demeaning, "It had a kind of cunning feel to it. I like that." I tried to remember his name, it was something creepy and, appropriately, snake-like. S...s...Sylas. That was it. Then his huge female counterpart came up behind him and stared me down.

"Come on Sylas," she said her voice deeper than Sylas' had been.

Then the two of them walked off towards the elevator. I realised why they had bothered to get up off their high horses and talk to me. It was because of Jett. They were trying to see what was so special about me that Jett had openly neglected them and accepted me. If they had found anything out just then I really wish they'd have shared it because I was asking myself the very same question.

Utterly exhausted I decided it was probably time to go find Caden and go back up to our floor because I was completely energy-less. Luckily he found me and the two of us quickly made our way to the elevator. Just as the doors were closing I looked up and my eyes met Jett's. He smiled and gave a small wave goodbye and I while I was deliberating on whether to wave back the doors shut, giving me an answer.


	9. Friends

Friends

"So how was training?" Haymitch asked when he finally decided to join us for dinner.

I tried to think of a legitimate reason for him to seem to always be late to absolutely everything. He and Rubin had supposedly been out speaking us up in front of possible sponsors, mind you Rubin got back half an hour ago. Luckily for all of us Verity was still out somewhere.

"Fine," I mumbled as Caden shrugged.

Haymitch grabbed a plate of food and sat down, frowning.

"Come on. Give me some details." He demanded through a mouthful of potato salad.

"Well... Umm..." I started trying to figure out what he actually wanted to know.

Haymitch rolled his eyes, "Eora you go first. Tell me which station you started with."

"The Hunting station."

"And how did it go?"

"Pretty good actually, I learnt heaps of things."

Haymitch waited for me to continue.

"Well what did you do next," he prompted, talking to me like I was a baby.

"Edible plants station. That was a breeze, because, oh I forgot to tell you Haymitch, I have a photographic memory."

"Wow, that's amazing Eora," Macie said with an enthusiastic little clap, "You have no idea how handy that little weapon will be when you're in the arena."

"Yes, yes, yes that's all good but tell me about you're more... hands on stations." Haymitch shut Macie up with a sharp glare.

"Well I tried to build a few fires, but I was completely pathetic at it. Then I tried sword fighting and that was no good as well."

"That doesn't surprise me," Haymitch said, "You're not very big."

I glowered at him but continued, "The last thing I did before lunch was archery. I wasn't bad at that but not great. After lunch I got really good at throwing my knives, so good that I threw one right through the centre of the target and onto the floor behind it."

"Good, that's really good," Haymitch said, "Make sure you practice again tomorrow, just the same way. What else?"

"After that I blitzed an obstacle course and the agility station, and then finished with hand-to-hand combat. Again I wasn't bad but it's definitely not a secret talent."

Haymitch turned to Caden, "What about you? Anything you're particularly good at?"

Caden shrugged and said, "No not really?"

I snorted, really loudly. Everyone else at the table stared at me like I was crazy.

"He's just being modest," I said looking at Caden with a smile, "You should have seen him with his huge broadsword, or better you should have seen the face of the poor guy he was against. He was amazing."

Everyone turned to look at Caden, whose olive cheeks were starting to redden.

"Is that true Caden?" Rubin asked bewildered.

Caden couldn't quite stop smiling a little, "I guess I wasn't bad."

I rolled my eyes, "That's code for yes."

Haymitch looked between the two of us nodding his head, "Good, this is all really good." He got up and started pacing, "How did we go with the prospective allies?"

"Oh I don't think Eora had any trouble making friends," Caden said. I think he was trying to say it humorously but something in his voice when he spoke, I thought I heard just the smallest hint of...resentment?

Haymitch, Rubin and Macie all turned to look at me and I blushed bright red.

"Indeed?" Rubin said mischievously.

I glared right at Caden and he smiled back.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"She and this boy spent the whole day together," he said looking back down at his food, "they even ate lunch together."

"Ok stop right there," I said with a little too much volume, "Firstly, it was not the _whole_ day. Secondly, he came up and sat with me at lunch, and you were there too. And thirdly," I had to stop to catch my breath, "He's less a friend and more a shadow, or a stalker."

Macie frowned, "What?"

"He just followed me around all day. I'll admit he wasn't bad company but I did try to shake him numerous times."

"And what, may I ask, was this mysterious boy's name?" Haymitch asked.

"Jett."

"And where is he from?"

I went to answer but Rubin beat me to it.

"One," he said enthusiastically, "Besides that massive girl from four, he's a hot favourite out there. I was talking to Esmeralda, the escort for the district five tributes, and she was telling me how she had practically got down on her knees and begged for Clyde, that's the district one escort, to get Jett to consider an alliance with either of her tributes."

"A career?" Haymitch said, not able to hide the surprise in his voice.

"Surprised Haymitch?" I asked trying my hardest not to be offended.

"Well...yes," he said, "It's not often that careers associate themselves with district twelve tributes."

"Lucky me," I said with as much sarcasm as I could muster up, "But you know, Caden met _heaps_ more people than I did," I said smiling deviously, trying to turn the tables back on him.

"I just bumped into a few people that's all, I didn't actually really talk to anyone like you did," He replied nonchalantly.

"That's ok Caden, you've still got tomorrow," Haymitch said turning towards me, "And you. You find out if that boy from one is interested in an alliance. If he is that's fine, if not tell him to leave you alone. Got it?"

I nodded, knowing that Jett obviously was not interested in partnering with me. I mean Haymitch had said it loud and clear, careers don't associate themselves with tributes from twelve. Whatever Jett's reason for hanging around me so much, it was not because he thought I would be a useful ally.

I was almost grateful when Verity stormed her way into the room because finally we could stop talking about Jett, because, even if I was the only one who knew it, it was not a big deal that he hung around me. She was complaining about something, loudly, but I'd never heard of this 'lingerie,' that she kept demanding was _way_ too overpriced so I just tuned out again.

Once all of us had finished eating Macie and Rubin, were once again the first to leave and go to sleep. Caden and I had been given some Ice Cream by the chef and I'd never had any before so I was anxious to try some, leaving Caden and I all alone in the dining room. The Ice Cream was delicious, so rich and creamy, with small honeycomb chunks, drowned in caramel syrup. I couldn't help but let out an "mmmmmmm," which caused Caden to laugh and start choking on his chocolate Ice Cream.

"I agree," he spluttered once he had finished his coughing fit.

I laughed then quickly added, "You were really good with that sword of yours you know."

He blushed, "You weren't bad at that obstacle course either."

"You saw that?" I said surprised.

"I was at the long range weapons station, right next to the obstacle course."

I hadn't noticed him there but I didn't want to tell him that and sound rude. We both ate in silence for a few moments, taking the time to really enjoy our ice creams because man, were they good, and let's face it, how much more sugar would I really have access to in my soon to be short-lived life?

"Ok," I finally said, "I seriously can't take this anymore."

Caden just looked at me with a puzzled, yet humoured, expression on his face.

"What can't you take?"

"Not knowing," I said dramatically.

"Knowing what?"

"Why you volunteered for Flint Valentine?"

Caden laughed, "You're still on about that? I hadn't had you pegged as someone who needed to know everything."

OK I'll admit that I sounded a little bit obsessed. But it had just been stuck in my brain and every time I'd forget about it something would remind me and I'd need to know again.

I frowned, "I do not need to know everything. It's just..._you're_ just so...frustrating. The more I tell myself I don't want to know the more I do want to know, you know?"

Caden sat silently not able to keep the smile off his face but didn't say a word.

"So you're not going to tell me then?" I said, even more frustrated than before.

"No. No offence but watching you torture yourself this way is actually really funny," he said with a smug smile.

I glared at him which made his smile grow.

"Ok," I said with a sigh, "What if you give me three guesses and if I guess right you have to tell me."

Caden grinned playfully, "hmmm let me think about it," he paused for dramatic effect, "no."

"Please," I pleaded, my eyes wide.

He groaned, "Fine."

I smiled, pleased though slightly surprised that I had actually succeeded. Unfortunately I only had a few theories that I'd been able to think up and only one that sounded viable to me.

"Was it for the money?" I asked doubtfully, a little bit afraid that he'd be offended.

Luckily he laughed, "No."

"Fame?"

"Nope. That's two."

"No way," I yelled, "That was one combined."

"Nope sorry that was definitely two different reasons to lead oneself to one's death."

This last one was my strongest theory, the one that made the most sense to me. Well actually it didn't really make sense to me so much as I could see someone else doing it.

"Was it for a girl?"

And there it was, my theory confirmed. Just the smallest flinch, the smallest hesitation, the smallest crack in his wall of confidence. As soon as the words left my mouth the humour in his eyes seemed to fade away and his response was just a second to slow.

"No." He said looking down at his empty bowl and fidgeting gently with his spoon.

"It is," I said barely able to hold my enthusiasm, "It's because of a girl."

"No it's not," he said, but now he was on the defensive, his confidence gone and his voice catching ever so slightly.

"Yes it is. You've sent yourself here to die for some girl you've left back home, back at district twelve."

"No."

"Yes," I said, leaning further and further across the table as everything started to become more and more clear, "Is she someone I know?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about," he said quietly.

"Did she not feel the same way as you? Did she like someone else? Didn't she notice you? Did you think perhaps that by dying on national television she would finally notice you?"

Caden looked up into my eyes, "You've got everything wrong."

"I'm not wrong."

"Yes you are."

"Am I then?"

"Yes."

"So you deny that you've ever had any romantic feelings for a girl from back home, "I said staring at him.

He looked down his cheeks getting redder.

I smirked, "See I'm not wrong."

"Yes you are, completely." He said so quietly I could barely hear him.

"Well then explain."

He remained silent, returning to playing with his spoon.

"See I am right."

He sighed dramatically, "I give up, believe whatever you want to believe. I have a feeling that no matter how much I tell you I'm not going to win this argument."

I smiled, "You won't win, because I'm right."

He rolled his eyes, "Whatever. I think it's time I went to bed. I have a big day of training ahead of me tomorrow," He smiled, "You on the other hand have a big day of stalker dodging."

I glared at him which made him laugh.

"Goodnight." He said and walked towards the door.

"Caden," I yelled just before he reached it. He turned his head back around and raised one eyebrow. "You know, you're almost fun now that you're human."

"_Thank you_," he said theatrically with a smile before turning and leaving. After I'd scraped every single morsel of ice cream off the side of my bowl I followed his example and went to bed. I had just finished getting changed into my pyjamas and had just lay down in bed and closed my eyes when I heard a polite knock on the door. With a groan I got up and opened it, and was completely surprised to see Rubin there.

"May I come in?" He asked.

I yawned as I gave a small nod and walked back inside to sit down on my bed.

"So what brings you here Rubin at this hour?"

"Well I did come earlier but you weren't here," he said with a little grin. I couldn't help but blush, though I didn't quite know why.

Rubin smiled for a small second before he became surprisingly serious.

"There was just something that Caden said that has been bugging me all night, about that boy, Jett."

I couldn't stop the groan that escaped my mouth. Why was everyone so bothered by this? I didn't know why he followed me all day and so what if he did?

"Look, not that I'm against an alliance with this Jett kid, because really he could become invaluable when you're in the arena, but I really wanted to remind you of something," He paused as if he couldn't quite find the right words that he wanted to say, "It's just that in a game where only one person wins, and winning means survival, it's not smart to make friends."

I wasn't looking at him but he was staring at my face trying to read my expression. I didn't reply because I didn't really understand what he was implying with that statement. He'd never met Jett before, heck I'd known him for all of one day, so why was he suggesting that we were friends?

He paused again, "And unfortunately I'm not just talking about the boy from one."

Ah, that little hint I did take. That time he was referring to me spending surplus hours with Caden, but come on, you can't really blame me for wanting to eat my damn ice cream. True Caden and I don't hate each other, in fact I kind of like the Caden who actually feels emotions, but again I wouldn't call us friends. Our relationship is built upon a common situation and hyped up by nerves, anxiousness and the possible near threat of death. Simple if you ask me. However I still didn't have the guts to look Rubin in the eye right then.

"Do you understand what I'm saying?" he said gently.

I nodded and he gave a small smile. He stood up and headed for the door.

"I just thought it was important that you hear that. Goodnight."

And with that he was gone. I was kind of angry that he thought I was some poor, confused, dying teenager who needed a life lesson from a know-it-all like him but boy was he wrong. I knew exactly where my life stood in the balance of things. My life had been stolen from me by a force completely out of my control, because of the actions of my ancestors, because of events that took place over 58 years ago, and because of the Capitols need to demonstrate their power to the rest of the world. Unless I have the will, strength and soullessness to kill almost two dozen other kids like me I will never get married, have children and more importantly never see that my sisters didn't suffer the very same fate that I was suffering through. So no, I did not need Rubin to reassure me that I didn't have any friends anymore, because I had that figured out all on my own. Unfortunately as soon as I thought of Dori and Raine my eyes started to burn and my chest started to ache. Angry, sad, exhausted and suddenly unbearably lonely I crawled into my bed and begged that sleep would some before the tears did.


	10. Allies

Allies

My second day of training was not at all like the first. Well it started out the same; Caden and I travelled down the elevator to the huge training gymnasium and found that once again we were almost the first there. Luckily however this time we didn't have to awkwardly hang around and wait for everybody else so I headed over to the knife throwing station again to practice with as few people watching me as possible. After I had been throwing for maybe five minutes I started to feel eyes on me, lots of eyes. I slowly turned around and noticed three Gamemakers standing behind me, watching me and whispering to one another. I hadn't even noticed them yesterday, in their long regal looking purple robes. I tried to completely forget about them but it was unnerving to know that they were watching me so carefully. When I couldn't take it anymore I decided it was probably time to move stations and head over and try the camouflage station. Well that was until I literally bumped into Jett.

He had obviously intended to come up and join me but since he hadn't announced himself I didn't know he was there and turned around and walked straight into him. And of course him being the much bigger of the two of us he wasn't the one to get flung straight in the direction of the floor. I guess it really is a matter of opinion whether it was lucky that he had abnormally fast reflexes and caught my arm to hold me up before I fell. He beamed at me, although he didn't pull me up.

"Are you seeing a pattern here?" he asked mischievously, "This is the second time in three days that I have had to stop you falling flat on your face."

"Ok first help me up for heaven's sake," I said because I didn't like having him completely in control of me and also quite literally almost every single pair of eyes in this entire room were on the two of us and I didn't like it. He hesitated for a second, as though he was contemplating whether to leave me hanging in his arms, let me up or just drop me. Eventually he reached out his other arm, took my hand and helped me back to my feet. I took a moment to readjust to the feeling of being on solid ground before starting again.

"Number one," I started, pausing to catch my breath for a second, "The first time was due to a horrible combination of a shift in gravity and a general lack of coordination. Secondly you can't claim to have saved me then considering that you were the one who made me fall in the first place."

He put on an extremely innocent face, his big brown eyes wide, "I'm _so_ sorry."

I glared at him and he smiled at me. It was so hard not to smile when he smiled at me like that.

"Well since you're obviously so eager to go throw some knives you can have this station all to yourself," I said with a curt smile, "I'm going to the camouflage station."

"You know that sounds like a great idea," he said, "Perhaps I'll join you."

"Fancy that," I said with a smile and the two of us walked over to the camouflage station.

I was starting to feel exceedingly inferior to Jett because it seemed that he was so good at so many things that a normal human like me could barely compare myself to him. Camouflage was no exception to this rule. Unlike Jett, who could weave disguises out of all kinds of muds and leaves and berries, I do not have a creative bone in my body and instead just got my arm covered in some horrible sticky concoction that greatly resembled, well, dirt. Eventually I got so sick of seeing the instructor clap her hands in delight at his beautifully designed vine camouflage that I threw a huge clump of berries right at his head. Was it childish? Maybe. Was it unsportsmanlike? Probably. Did it feel great to see his overachieving face covered in thick, purple juice? Definitely.

I probably would have got in an awful lot of trouble if Jett hadn't burst out laughing. He wiped all the berry juice from his face and came up and smeared it all over me. I gasped and accidently gave a girlish squeal. He then grabbed a huge bucket of water, that was probably there to clean all the mud and dirt off people's arms, and tipped it over my head. I was going to do the exact same thing to him but he beat me to it, drenching himself from head to toe.

"Well we're clean now," he said with a chuckle and then handed me a small hand towel that was sitting next to the bucket.

"Gee thanks," I said as I took the tiny towel.

From that point on the day started to become less and less like the previous one. Sure Jett still stuck to me like glue and the two of us practiced together but it was at the staff combat station that things started to get interesting.

I didn't even know what a staff was, so when Jett suggested we go learn how to use one I was just a little bit concerned. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that a staff was actually just a long, thick wooden stick that people use to hit each other with. Personally I thought that if I was close enough to hit someone with a stick then I'd much rather have a weapon with a blade on it but I suppose that if I didn't it was probably a good idea to learn how to hurt someone with the damn stick.

After fifteen minutes or so I started to like the stick-I mean staff- a little bit more. It was probably the first larger sized weapon that I could actually see myself using, because it wasn't that heavy and was so well proportioned that it seemed to balance really well when I swung it. I was feeling pretty confident when heard a light voice behind me.

"You need to hold it further down."

I turned around to see the blonde girl from one, whose name had totally escaped my mind at that moment, standing behind me. Up close she was even prettier than I had thought. Her long blonde hair fell in perfect waves down her back and her pale skin was absolutely flawless. Well actually there was one little black mark about a centimetre below the corner of her right eye. I knew they had a name for something like that, was it a freckle, a birthmark? No, a beauty mark. Trust.

I looked at her with a puzzled look on my face.

"The staff," she said with a small nod in the direction of the stick in my hand, "You're left hand is too far up. If you want to be able to manoeuvre it properly you need to hold it further down."

I looked back to my staff and moved my left hand down a couple of inches. I then quickly thrust it out and hit the punching bag I'd been beating up with even more force and speed than I had before.

"Your names Eora, isn't it?" she asked with a small flick of her perfect golden hair, "I'm Velvet."

Velvet. That was it. Damn. It's a little bit embarrassing that everyone I meet seems to know my name but I can't remember theirs.

"Nice to meet you," I said awkwardly. Luckily Jett saved me from any further awkward chit chat by choosing that very moment to stop beating his assistant to a pulp and come join the conversation.

"Hey Velvet," he said with a smile.

"Jett," she said, blushing and suddenly completely oblivious to my entire existence.

"How've you been?"

"Oh it's been alright," she said looking him up and down. She gasped quickly, "How did you get so wet?"

Jett laughed and quickly glanced at me, "Just got a little carried away at the camouflage station that's all."

Her eyes didn't leave his and she let out a horribly girlish and annoying laugh.

"That's so funny!"

"Well," I said to fill the silence, "I'm going to go." I looked at Jett and could hardly contain my laughter. "You two have fun."

"Actually I'll come with you," Jett said smoothly, "I think I'm just about done here anyway."

"Ok then well I'll see you later Jett," Velvet said with a quick wave as the two of us walked away.

As soon as we were out of earshot I couldn't hold my laughter anymore. I started laughing so hard I was literally crying.

"Don't even say a word," Jett said, barely able to contain a smile.

"I don't think I have to," I said once I'd caught my breath.

"I did warn you. I told she wasn't bright."

I laughed again, "Yeh but you didn't say she was completely fawning over you."

He smiled, "A mere oversight on my part."

"Well she is very pretty," I reminded him, seeing if he'd take the bait a second time around, "You could do much worse."

His smile slowly faded, "Beauty isn't just skin deep," he said seriously. When I awkwardly looked down at my toes feeling embarrassed he laughed, "Besides I don't think I could do much worse."

I looked up and smiled again, "Agreed."

Over the next few stations that Jett and I visit at least half a dozen people introduced themselves to me. I met both Tripp and Dahlia from two, they were both completely self righteous and unpleasant, and both seemed completely disgusted that they were talking to me. After that I met Knox, the boy from three and Luis, the boy from eleven. The two of them seemed nervous and intimidated by me, which, although it was a confidence booster, I doubt actually had all that much to do with me and more with my strong, blonde, career stalker. Porter, the little twelve year old from ten was actually my favourite. He was surprisingly calm and confident, talking so much that I learnt more about him in five minutes than I could have learnt about anyone else in a year.

The biggest surprise however came when Jett and I were at the shelter station, which was one of the last stations we visited before lunch. I had just started weaving a shelter out of grass when a huge, bulky figure came and sat in between Jett and I. I didn't need to look up to recognise her, nobody else was that big.

Angora didn't say anything; she just sat down and started roping some vines together. I pretended not to notice her, not to be intimidated, or terrified of her and focused really hard on weaving my grass. I decided it was probably a really stupid way of making a shelter, I mean seriously if I had enough time to weave some damn grass why couldn't I have just gone and found a cave? Once again I was inferior to my career counterparts who both finished their shelters much fast than me. Jett's woven grass was tight but when the instructor checked to see if it would hold out water it let quite a bit of water through. Angora's vines didn't do much better in comparison, still leaking enough to be annoying if you were trying to sleep under it. The two of them went back and tried to fix their shelters just as I finished. I couldn't help but give Jett and Angora a cocky little smirk when my woven grass literally didn't leak a drop.

"Pretty good," Angora said her deep, masculine voice catching me off guard, "I'm Angora," she said her hand extended.

"Eora," I stammered as I reached out and shook her hand, which was easily twice the size of mine.

She shook my hand, recoiled and then walked away as though nothing had happened and I'd never been there. Whatever Jett's reason for hanging around me he had obviously put me on the map. Whether or not I wanted to be on that map I wasn't sure but I guess that wasn't up to me anymore.

"Weird," I said as I watched her walk away.

"She's not exactly the world's best conversationalist," Jett said smiling, "You should be extremely proud that she introduced herself to you. Quite the honour."

I glared at him and he smiled back.

"You're not much of a people person are you Eora?" he asked lightly.

I frowned, "What makes you say that?"

"I_ am_ a people person, we can tell." He said with a playful grin.

"Oh really?"

"Yes. And me being a people person and all, I can tell that you and I would make a great team."

Ok, that took me by surprise.

"Pardon?"

"You heard me."

I was completely unprepared for this. Did Jett seriously just ask me to be his ally? Macie, Haymitch and Rubin all thought he would but they hadn't actually seen or met him. Why would he want me as an ally? As far as he knew I wasn't particularly good at anything, well I did kick his ass at that obstacle course and the agility station, but besides that he'd beaten me at practically everything we did.

"You want me to be your ally?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yes."

"As in working together?"

He laughed, "I think that's what's implied by the term 'ally.'"

For me, as the others had reminded me over and over last night, Jett would be a very useful ally. He was strong, smart, likeable and generally good at everything. I would be an idiot to say no. The only thing that was stopping me from accepting was how desperately I wanted to know why he wanted me as an ally.

I breathed in a huge breath of air.

"Ok."

"Ok?"

"Ok, I'll be your ally."

He beamed at me, "Really?"

I frowned, "No you idiot I'm joking."

He laughed and stretched out his hand, "Partners?"

I smiled, reached out and took his hand, "Partners."


	11. Family

Family

The second lunch was very similar to the first. Once again the only people who were sitting in a group were the careers and me and Jett. Also once again Caden wasn't there when Jett and I entered the dining room. I couldn't help but smile as I walked in. _I have an ally! _I practically wanted to scream it out loud and watch the reactions of the faces of everybody else, particularly the snobs from two whose names I no longer remembered. I must actually be doing something right, because as Rubin said, Jett is one of the favourites to win this thing. Perhaps with his help, and some good luck, I might just make it home.

"So know that we're partners and all," I started as Jett and I sat down at the same table we had yesterday, "Are you going to tell me what your super secret talent is?"

He smiled at my dramatic tone, "Like I said, it's a secret I'll take with me to the grave."

"You know in our current context that really isn't that funny."

He laughed but still wasn't talking.

"Come on," I said, not able to hide the pleading tone in my voice, "What if there's only one of your weapon and it's on the wrong side of the Cornucopia from you but I can get it. How can I help you if I don't have a clue what it actually is you want."

He groaned, "Fine but if I'm telling you mine then you're going to tell me yours."

"Deal."

"You're not even going to know what it is."

I laughed, "Not if you don't tell me I won't."

He took a deep breath, "Have you ever heard of a...shoge?"

"Nope, never."

"I told you you wouldn't know what it is."

I rolled my eyes, "Well perhaps you could explain it to me then I would know what it is."

"It's basically a double edged knife with another blade attached ninety degrees to the bottom of it, that is connected to a long rope or chain with a metal circle at the end of it."

"Oh _so_ simple."

He laughed at my sarcasm and continued, "If you saw it you would think it was simple."

I frowned, "How on earth did you learn to use it?"

He smiled innocently, "You're not going to like it."

I gave a small laugh, I should have known.

"Career in name, career in nature."

He acted hurt, "Come on you've got to let me explain."

I made a dramatic show of lightly bitting my lip and placing a finger on my lips to make it look like I was thinking really hard. Finally I sighed and said, "Oh all right."

He smiled, "So my Grandfather was like, oh I don't know, twenty-five or something, during the dark days. He wasn't a soldier and he didn't fight in the actual wars but he needed a way to protect himself against any potential threat. So he got his friend who actually was a soldier to try and sneak him out some kind of weapon. His friend couldn't steal a gun for him but what he had managed to take was this shoge. So my grandfather got really good at using it and when an attacker did come he managed to take him down easily with the shoge. So when my dad was old enough he taught him how to use it, and ever since I was ten years old my father has been teaching me."

"And if you make it home, you'll teach your kids?" I asked.

"Well I didn't want to say that in front of you but yes, I would teach my eldest son."

I was a little bit confused at that. Not just the eldest son thing, which made no sense at all because a) I'm sure his daughters had just as much reason to need to use a weapon as any of his sons and b) why just the eldest? But also why he didn't want to say that in front of me, I mean did he think I'd be offended by the fact that he was only going to teach his skill to a male member of his family? Well actually that did offend me just a little bit but it's not really something to worry yourself over. Then I understood: for him to make it home, get married and have kids, I would have to be dead. Ah.

I frowned, "So you didn't learn so you'd have a weapon to use in the Hunger Games, but because it's got some kind of sentimental value to it?"

"Yeah."

"So does that mean you're the eldest son of an eldest son?" I asked after I'd taken a huge sip of some red sugary drink.

"I'm the _only_ son of an eldest son," he said with a smile.

"Oh," I said with a tad too much surprise in my voice.

He laughed, "Surprised?"

"Well...yes." I said and when he raised one eyebrow to question me I said, "Well you're just not the type I picture to be an only child."

"I never said I was an only child," he said with a chuckle, "Just the only son. I'm actually the youngest of five."

"You have four sisters!" I said a little bit too loud. In district twelve anyone with a family that big struggled, I mean it was hard enough to keep my tiny family of three satisfied let alone seven. Mind you district one is one of the richest districts in Panem.

He laughed, "Yep. Savana, Essence, Destiny and Patience, the four perfect Emerson sisters. Savana's the oldest, she just got married and had her first baby actually."

I couldn't help but laugh at that, "You're an uncle?"

He smirked, "Hey no laughing. I could be a great uncle. Unluckily chances are that I'll never even learn my little nephews name because Savana is so damn picky that the baby had been born for almost a month and they still hadn't picked out a name for him yet."

"Well I'm sorry but my uncle is kind of a sore spot for me, so I find it hard to picture what a 'great uncle' actually is."

Jett stopped for a second, "How very rude of me. I've been talking all this time and haven't asked you a single question about your family."

"Trust me, my family isn't anything like yours at all."

He leaned back on his chair, placed both of his feet on the table, crossed his ankles and said, "Enlighten me."I

"I don't know where to start."

"Why don't you tell me about your mum and dad."

I took a deep breath. I hated talking about my parents but Jett was probably the first person I knew who didn't know a thing about either of them. I thought for a small second that I should just lie, tell him that I had a happy, whole family with two happily married parents. But I figured that if the two of us were going to work together then we needed to be able to trust each other, and lying about stupid things like my family, was definitely not a good way to build trust.

"My father died when I was three years old so I don't really remember him that well," I started and Jett's smile had very quickly become erased from his face, " My mother remarried when I was eleven and quickly got pregnant. My stepfather was killed in the mines soon after and the stress caused my mother to go into premature labour. She died giving birth to my two twin sisters, Dori and Raine."

For the first time I could remember Jett didn't look happy and confident. His face was sympathetic and pitiful. When he looked up into my eyes, his eyes had lost their usual spark and it was obvious to see he didn't mean to make me talk about such painful memories like this. He felt sorry for me. Well that made one of us. I'd long ago learned that feeling sorry for myself was just going to make it harder for me to endure all the tragedies in my life. The only way to survive was simply to accept that what had happened was in the past and I could never change it.

I kept going, "My sisters and I got left in the care of my uncle, a horrible, weedy drunkard who had no interest or idea on how to take care of children. It only took a few...events to see that the three of us could not live with him. So instead I took Dori and Raine back to my old home and my uncle would give us money every month to live on. We probably wouldn't have made it without the help of my best friend, Alara, who lived downstairs."

"And now you're here," Jett whispered.

"And now I'm here," I said with a sad smile, "I warned you that my family isn't like yours."

"It's just so..." Jett frowned as he tried to find the right words, "I mean it's cruel for someone to lose even one parent. But for you to lose three..."

"It's alright. It was a long time ago."

The two of us finished the rest of our food in silence, neither of us really willing to make pathetic chit chat after the sudden realisation of the two very different worlds we had previously lived in. I didn't resent Jett for being born into a more privileged life than mine, I mean I could, but what's the point really? Lots of my friends from school all used to wish that they lived in the capitol or district one with more money and nicer possessions but I never did. Wanting something like that wouldn't change the fact that they weren't born in district one, it would just make them dislike their present life more.

Caden still hadn't shown up by the time that Jett and I had finished and I kind of wanted to wait for him because, even though I didn't really know anything about Caden's family, he was from my world, from district twelve and it would be nice to be able to hear about his family as well. Then again I already knew he had a mother and father because I'd met them both and I didn't want to depress him with my woe is me life like I had done to Jett. He did finally show up just as Jett and I were walking out of the dining room and going back out to train.

"What took you so long?" I asked as I saw him.

"Just trying to get in as much practice as I can," he said with a smile, "Trust me I need it."

"You know what else you need, food. Take advantage of the constant feasts available to put on few extra kilos while you're here. I plan to."

"Shall do," he said and with a quick, "I'll see you later," he walked into the dining room.

Later came approximately four hours later, before Haymitch, Macie, Rubin and Verity had all come back from whatever it was they had been doing all day. It was almost eerie being left alone in a room with so many gadgets to play with and probably break. Caden quickly disappeared into his room so I decided to try and check out what was on the television, who knows perhaps there was some information on the games. What was I saying, of course there was going to be something on the games. Now let me set the record straight in case you haven't figured this much out already, I am not good with technology. I'm the kind of girl who falls over in elevators and can't work showers with millions of buttons and now apparently can't work high tech televisions. I was at the point of literally throwing the damn remote that was supposedly controlling the television when Caden came up behind me and took it from me. He took one look at it, pressed one button and it turned on. I stared at him in awe.

"How did you do that?"

He laughed, "I pressed the button with 'on' written on it."

I glared at him, "I hate you, just so you know."

He laughed again and sat down on the couch next to me. On the television was some young girl who had obviously had extensive amounts of plastic surgery on her face. She was interviewing a previous victor from somewhere who had come to the capitol to do something, oh I don't know, it was so ridiculously fake and boring that it was almost painful to watch. After ten minutes or so I took back the remote and searched endlessly for the button that said off. When I couldn't find it I passed the remote to Caden and once again the first button he pressed worked.

"I really hate you."

He smirked, "Whatever you say."

"Did you see, her highness Angora introduced herself to me," I said with fake humbleness

"I didn't see," he said laughing, "Such an honour on one as lowly as you."

"Yes ones as lowly as us can only _dream_ of meeting people like her highness. Oh and I also met their majesties Tripp and Dahlia from two."

"I met Dahlia yesterday actually," he said dropping the whole humble facade, "She's horrible."

"I know, the pair of them acted like they were so much better than me, like I was scum or something."

"Well I spent an hour or two with Keenan from five. He's an alright guy but he's not someone I could picture myself spending a long period of time with."

"Have you met Porter from ten?"

"No, why?"

"He is possibly the nicest kid you will ever meet. Mind you I think he could talk for hours on end and not even think of slowing down but he's possibly the least bothered by all of this out of everyone here. You would think this is just a normal week for him."

Caden laughed for a second before quickly going silent. All the humour left his face and I was about to ask him what was wrong when he turned and looked straight into my eyes. For a small second I thought he might kiss me again but I reminded myself that was stupid. Caden kissed me once, and only once, to prove a point. And it's not like I wanted him to kiss me again, I think. Besides, if my theory was right, which I was pretty sure it was, Caden was in love with a girl who was back in district twelve and a guy who cares about a girl so much that he volunteers in the hunger games to get him to notice her doesn't just go around kissing girls. So you can imagine that I was completely unprepared when he said,

"Do you want to work together?"

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped.

"What?"

"Do you want to work together?"

"You want to form an alliance."

"Yes."

I was again totally confused.

"Why?"

He frowned, "Pardon."

"Why do you want me as an ally?"

He looked deep into my eyes, his big blue eyes as penetrating as ever.

He took a deep breath, "I could never kill you Eora," he said quietly, "So I figure if I'm not going to kill you why not work with you."

As much as I hated to admit it, it made sense. I liked Caden, he was sweet and nice and smart and if you handed me a gun and told me to shoot him I'm not sure I could do it. And he obviously liked me to because he had been the one to suggest an alliance. We'd done what Rubin had told me not to, we'd made friends. Even though an alliance like this couldn't last forever because no matter what, at best, only one of us was going to make it back to district twelve, he was right, we should work together while we could.

"I'd like that Caden," I said looking back at him.

He smiled at me and I smiled back. I quickly cursed at myself for trying to get through his stupid emotionless shell because if I hadn't neither of us would be in this mess. I wasn't really all that sorry though. Then I remembered one important thing.

"Wait, I just remembered," I said with a small frown, "I've already agreed to ally with someone."

Caden stood up and grimaced, "Ten guesses who."

"I gave Jett my word Caden," I said, standing up as well. It was obvious that Caden didn't like Jett, I'd picked as much up yesterday at lunch, but I wasn't asking him to.

"He's a career Eora," he yelled.

"So?" I shouted back.

"So how much do you really know about him?"

"More than I know about you actually."

Caden glared at me and turned around to face the wall, his back to me.

"Caden," I pleaded, all the anger draining out of me. He turned back around, his face dim. I shrugged my shoulders, "Let's face it, I'm not a threat. As Haymitch keeps on pointing out, I'm not big. I'm not particularly good at anything, and the only two things I have going for me are that I can run fast and throw knives. You, you are a threat. You're strong and smart and you have a natural flair for hacking a huge sword at people," I smiled at him but he didn't smile back, "And Jett, Jett is a threat. He's strong, he's smart and he's fast. He is good at absolutely everything and he's completely likeable. He's a threat, and therefore I'd rather have him on my team then on somebody else's. Please Caden, I'd really like you on my team as well," I begged, "Please Caden, please."

He sighed and hung his head. When he looked up his eyes were wide and doubtful.

"I don't trust him Eora," he finally said.

"I'm not asking you to. I'm just asking you to work with him."

Caden looked around the room slowly as if he needed to look away from me to weigh his options.

"I won't be on his team Eora, but if it's the only way to be on yours, then I'll work with him."

I beamed at him and threw my arms around him. His body stiffened for a moment before he slowly moved his arms around my body.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"You're welcome partner," he said as his grip around me tightened.

Hey everybody this is Cottoncandychoctop. I just wanted to tell everybody that I'm going away for the holidays so I won't be able to update for like a whole month! Sorry! However I made sure that this last chapter was finished before I left and I hope you like it. I was going to break it in half and finish the second half with Caden and Eora when I got back but I thought it was important you all got to read it if you had to wait for so long. I promise to get the next chapter up ASAP. But I hope everyone has a merry Christmas and a happy new year!


	12. Game Plan

Game Plan

Ok so I did have a game plan for that third day. There were three things I had hoped to accomplish by the end of the day: one, tell Jett that I had agreed to work with Caden as well, if he didn't like it employ similar tactics like those that had worked on Caden, begging, pleading so on. Two, find a way to display both of my supposed talents, running and throwing knives, to the judges. And three, get a perfect score in my individual training session. I'll admit the last one is a little ambitious but I pretty much decided that if I didn't want to get a score of three I needed to motivate myself.

So it was with those three goals in mind that I entered the training room on that third day, only to find that Caden and I were almost the last two there, which was surprising because we were no later than we had been the first two days but for some reason everyone, spare maybe four or five people, was there. Unfortunately for me and my game plan one of those people was Jett.

I was kind of used to getting to training before Jett so I just assumed that as soon as he arrived he'd come find me like he had the last two days. But as time went on I found that I was constantly looking around the gym for him and soon enough I was becoming so anxious that I had become a safety hazard to my knife throwing instructor. Once I had subconsciously decided that Jett was not going to show up I decided to focus on my second objective, find a way to run and throw knives at the same time. After putting together some pretty... shall we say 'inventive' ideas in my head I saw the male tribute from seven, who was probably one of the few tributes I hadn't met and/or heard the name of, doing an obstacle course in which he had to run, dodge obstacles and hit targets with a sword. I decided that was probably my best bet. Before I started the instructor told me I could use any kind of weapon I wanted to hit the targets but Haymitch had specifically told me not to show anyone how good with my knives I actually was so I decided to follow the boy from seven's lead and use a small light sword.

Since this little exercise was really just to familiarise myself with the course I took the first time slow, which mind you was still twice as fast as the boy from seven. The course itself was relatively easy it was just the placement of the targets that made it complicated. It was uncanny how many I would have to hit straight after jumping over, or rolling under an obstacle. There was this one target that I just could not hit. It was about twenty metres from the end of the course and you had to duck under this moving beam then do a complete one-eighty and hit the target on the back of the beam and for some reason I would either forget about it or in my rushed state miss it by a country mile. I figured that as soon as I could throw a knife at it rather than actually hit it I would be able to do it as the risk of getting hit in the face with a big metal beam would be greatly reduced. I stayed on that course for a good hour, switching weapons and even once trying with my knives, surprising myself let alone the instructor with my speed and accuracy.

Know my panic really started to set in. It was almost twelve by know and still no sign of Jett. In half an hour they would start calling for our individual training sessions and I hadn't even eaten lunch yet. Unfortunately there really wasn't much I could do and I hadn't eaten much this morning because I was so ridiculously nervous so I was really hungry. I went into the lunchroom, grabbed a huge plate of food and sat down by myself. I found that because I was even more nervous than I had been this morning I had one bite of my bread and immediately felt sick in the stomach. After forcing down a few pieces of meat and some more bread I heard someone whisper in my ear. 

"Miss me?"

I almost literally jumped out of my seat when I felt Jett's breath against the back of my neck. I turned around and glared at him furiously.

"Where the hell have you been?"

He laughed as he sat down next to me and slid his food tray across the table.

"My mentor said that the best way to prepare myself for such a 'big day' was to sleep in. So I did. Why were you worried about me?" He batted his abnormally long eyelashes at me.

I frowned, "No, I just needed to tell you something. And P.S then how come Velvet got here before me this morning?"

"_She _had to practice."

"And you didn't?"

He smiled cockily, "I don't need the practice. Besides I don't want everyone to know my super secret talent."

"True," I took a deep breath. "Well you know how I said I needed to tell you some- "

"You know speaking of super secret talents," he said completely cutting me off in the middle of my sentence, "You broke a promise you made to me yesterday."

My eyes widened. Oh crap Caden told him before I got the chance to.

I made the most apologetic face I could and decided it was time to start begging...quietly though because there were a few people, the girl from eight (whose name I had forgotten again) in particular, who looked a little less uninterested than they were trying to act.

"I know Jett but I swear I plan to keep my side of the bargain."

He put his feet up on the table and leaned back on his chair.

"So tell me."

I frowned, "Tell you what?"

"What your super secret talent is."

The confusion on my face must have been really evident because Jett sighed, rolled his eyes and explained.

"Remember yesterday when you asked me to tell you what my strength was and I agreed only on the condition that you would in return tell me yours. Well yesterday I told you about me and my shoge and then you, ever so slyly I might add, steered the conversation into a different direction by asking me how and why I learnt which then lead into me describing my family and so on so on."

I nodded still not completely understanding what we were talking about.

"Well I told you my weapon of choice but you never told me yours. So if you want to keep your promise you need to start spilling."

I sighed a sigh of relief. "You want to know what my talent is."

He laughed, "Yes. What did you think I was talking about?"

"Oh I don't know I was just really confused that's all," I lied smoothly.

"Well are you going to tell me or not?" he said a humoured expression on his face.

"Oh yeah sure in a sec but I really have to tell you something before I-"

"Oh no you don't," he said cutting me off _again_, "You got me side tracked once but I am not as blonde as I look. I don't make the same mistakes twice."

"But I really have to-" I pleaded before being cut off a third time, which was getting annoying really fast.

"No buts. Just spill."

Deciding I wasn't going to win this one I let out an exasperated sigh and said,

"I run. And I throw knives," I said bluntly, "There. You happy?"

He made a sceptical face, "Really?"

"Excuse me," I said just a little bit offended, "So I'm not a fancy as you with your shoge."

"Oh I swear that wasn't supposed to sound like it did. Don't get me wrong as soon as I saw you run I knew you were obviously really good. But I also saw you at the knife throwing station and I have to say you threw a few really...erratic throws."

"Staged," I said simply, "I didn't know you well enough to show you how good I actually am."

"I'll take your word for it."

I took a few more bites of food and tried to let my bubble of anger cool down.

"So what was it you so desperately needed to tell me?"

And here lay the real flaw in my brilliant three objective plan. I had planned to have a really long time to explain all of this to Jett, enough time for him to get mad and me to get mad and then the two of us discuss it maturely and reach a compromise that we could both live with. The reason I planned to have such a long time was because they call the tributes out for individual sessions in chronological order and boys before girls. So for all you who hadn't all ready figured it out I, as the female tribute from district twelve, was going to be the last tribute called in for individual training. But I guess that most of you have already spotted the flaw in my plan that it took me up to that moment to realise. Yes I was last but Jett, who was the male tribute from district one, was first. This sudden realisation came crashing down on me in a matter of two words.

"Emerson, Jett."

It was one of the Gamemakers who had decided that right then was the perfect moment to start calling in the tributes for individual training. Just. My. Luck.

Jett got up and gave me a confident smile.

"Wish me luck," he said before looking down at his still half full plate of food, "oh and you can have my chocolate mousse."

"Gee thanks," I said contemplating whether or not to throw the mousse at his self-righteous face.

He laughed one last time before turning around and walking towards the training room. As he was walking he crossed paths with Caden who had apparently just left the training room and got his lunch. I gasped a little as I saw Caden say something to Jett as they crossed paths but then he just kept walking towards me even as Jett stoped and turned back around to look at me, his face kind of like a disbelieving frown. He raised an eye at me and I waved him towards the door as I had no idea just what happened so there was no way I was going to explain it to him. When Caden came and sat down I quickly asked,

"What was that?"

Caden shrugged, "I wished him good luck that's all."

I did a very good job of not letting my jaw drop, "I thought you hated him."

"I'm just, you know, being the bigger person or whatever."

I beamed at him, "Well I'm very proud."

"You should be."

I sat in complete silence while Caden ate and I swear several times I had to remind myself to breathe. I watched as one by one the crowd slowly started to disappear into the training room until Caden and I were the only two left in the lunchroom.

"Eora," I heard Caden say breaking the silence.

"What?"

"You're shaking."

I looked down at my hands and saw that indeed I was shaking uncontrollably, which of course only made me start to breathe really fast as well. Caden saw me starting to panic and took my hand in his. I flinched for a second at his touch, but only because his hand was so much warmer and steadier than mine. He looked deep into my eyes and said,

"Shh, just breathe, long deep breaths," he said before mimicking how he wanted me to breathe. I tried to do what he was doing but my heart was beating so hard inside my chest that it was hard to act calm and chilled. Eventually I started to feel a little better and much less lightheaded. I was still shaking but not quite as badly as before. I had always been like this, I got really anxious and nervous really fast but normally I snapped out of it this close to the actual event. And normally no one was there to see me panic, which I had always been glad for.

Caden smiled at me, "You don't need to worry you know," he said giving my hand a little squeeze, "you're going to do great."

I let out a nervous, sarcastic laugh, "Of course _you_ can say that. You _are_ going to do well."

"So are you, you need to give yourself some credit. I saw you throwing those knives this morning and you're as good as anyone else here. Put that together with the ridiculous abnormal speed at which you run and you're as good an assassin as any."

I smiled weakly at him. He was too sweet, I mean first he volunteers in the hunger games as an act of love, now he was comforting his pathetic, nervous wreck of an ally in the middle of a slight breakdown. I almost felt sorry for whoever it was Caden left back in twelve because they probably never got to see the side I was seeing then.

"Rhoades, Caden," I heard one of the Gamemakers say, in a voice much louder than it needed to be considering there were only two people left in the lunchroom.

"Good luck," I whispered with a small smile.

"Thanks," he said as he walked towards the door. Just before he reached it he turned back around, "Eora."

"Yeah?"

"Breathe," he said with a smile, "You'll do great."

I beamed at him before he turned back around and walked into the training room and I was all alone. It was so eerily quiet that I could hear my own slow composed breaths echoing off the walls. I tried to focus on what I should do in my training session but all I could think of was, '_This is the last time I'm going to be in this room.' _It seemed like in the few weeks I had left I was going to have a lot of lasts. Maybe it was a bad habit to be getting into, counting the things I was doing that I'd never do again but I found this one at least a relief. I didn't like this lunchroom, it was bland and boring and all the food that had been in here an hour or two ago had left a strange mixture of smells behind. It almost reminded me of the Hob back home. The Hob was our kind of 'Black market,' back home. There were always so many different stalls there selling different things. The first time I went there with my step father before he and my mother got married. I remember that when he was buying some meat for that evening there were so many smells from all different types of food, meat, fish, bread, wine, greens. To me all the smells didn't really mix together and it made me feel a little sick. My step father had taken me home back to my room but it turned out I was genuinely ill. Well it was my room back then now it was Dori and Raine's room and I was in my mother's old room. There it was that pain straight through my heart as soon as I started to think of my sisters. How did my train of thought lead me here?

"Reagan, Eora," the Gamemaker shouted. I felt like yelling at him that of course I was going to be here, I was the last one left. I took a deep breath, took one last look around the lunchroom then walked towards the door.


	13. Scoring

Scoring

The first thing I noticed when I walked into the gymnasium was the Gamemakers all sitting at a table near the middle of the room, each with at least one empty wine glass in front of them, others with up to four or five, and they appeared to be looking relatively refreshed and surprised. _Caden must have done even better than I thought he would. _I quickly cursed myself, this was SO not the time to be happy for my ally. This was one of those make or break kind of moments. If I did well right here and now I was looking at outshining my competition, gaining heaps of wealthy sponsors and therefore heading into the games with a massive advantage. If not...well I was going to be pretty much screwed. However the one thing that Caden impressing them would do for me is make them not just assume that being a small sixteen year old girl from district twelve that I was just cannon fodder for the games.

I tried to look confident as I walked over to the weapons table to grab six or seven knives, which luckily I could carry because they had provided knife belts, but I don't think I pulled it off very well because I was breathing just a little too loud to stop from hyperventilating. I quickly made a general plan for how I was going to do this; first I would start by throwing at some of the bulls-eye targets at the knife throwing station, then I would try and knock down some harder more abstract targets around the room and thirdly I would go and finish off on the obstacle course.

The bulls-eyes were definitely the easiest part, so easy in fact that I was getting little bored. I hadn't thrown a single one outside of the middle circle of the target and they had all gone in with a loud and rewarding 'THUMP.' Once I was warmed up I picked some more targets, the sword fighting dummy which I hit right in the forehead, a can of red paint at the camouflage station which spluttered all over the floor and my grand finale I aimed right at one of the helmets sitting on one of the tables and my knife went straight through the gap between the rim of the helmet and the grill for protecting the mouth, right where the eyes would be. I noticed a couple of the Gamemakers whispering and chatting to each other while looking back at me. Well at least they were taking some notice of me.

I walked over to the obstacle course and was just about to start when I suddenly felt really sick in the stomach. I knew I wasn't physically sick it was just my nerves acting up. This part of my personal training display was really the pivotal point. If I stuffed this up I was just a silly girl who could throw knives but if I could do this, I was someone to watch. I tried to calm myself and remembered Caden's last piece of advice, _'Breathe.' _I closed my eyes for a second, took a deep breath and launched myself into the course, considerably faster than I had done before. Moving at the fastest I could physically go I nailed target after target until I remembered that I was approaching the one I kept missing yesterday. I quickly ducked and rolled as the moving metal bar came right at my head. Before any of the Gamemakers had even blinked I was back up facing the direction I had just come from and landed my knife in the right hand side of the target. It wasn't dead in the centre like all the others had been but I had hit it which was an improvement on all my practice runs. Filled with the confidence that success had brought I accelerated even more and took down the last two targets in the course with ease, absolutely smashing my fastest time for the course.

I looked over to the Gamemakers with a big smile on my face, which fell when I met their eyes. Most of them looked exactly like they had before, as though nothing had happened. There was one or two who had stunned or impressed looks on their faces but my eyes were particularly drawn to one of the older Gamemakers who was obviously so drunk that he was throwing up at the feet of one of the others. At least five of the other Gamemakers around this man were concerned with him and apparently hadn't even watched me.

_I bet they were all watching Jett and Velvet, _I thought spitefully once again cursing my foul luck. It was hardly fair that because I was from twelve I was at an even greater disadvantage than I had previously been anyway, being thinner and less physically developed after having to deal with starvation for most of my life, because the Gamemakers couldn't even hold it together for a couple of hours. I understood that yes district twelve had a really bad track record with victors but each year is different and each year we tributes from twelve start off behind because we get treated the worst. Yes I recognise that I was being childish and dwelling in my own self pity but this was my life they were throwing away, for god's sake they could at least let me fight for it on an even playing field.

"Thank you Miss Reagan that will be all," one of the plastic faced female Gamemakers said with a dismissive wave and with that I stormed out of the gymnasium and slammed the doors behind me. I tried to just forget everything that had happened while standing in the elevator and as soon as the doors opened I walked straight over to my room and right into the shower. I really didn't want to have to face Haymitch or Rubin and especially when Caden, who had obviously done so damn well, was around. They had both been pretty relaxed when I told them about the whole alliance situation, in fact neither one of them looked at all surprised when I told them that I was working with both Caden and Jett. Haymitch had planned to get on more familiar terms with Ayden, who was Jett's mentor, so that the two of them would be able to collaborate better when we were all actually working together. Caden and I were the only two people who were sharing a mentor this year. All the other districts have one male and one female ex-victor to mentor the boy and girl tributes, but since Haymitch is our only living victor he gets the lucky task of dealing with both of us. Yet another disadvantage we district twelve tributes have.

The warm water in the shower really helped me to settle down. So what if a few of the Gamemakers didn't see me on the obstacle course, most of them did and a few of them were even impressed with me. And who knows how everyone else went. Maybe they were all terrible and I actually did really well in comparison. And even if I had done terribly, I was pretty sure Caden hadn't and I knew that Jett would have absolutely won them over with one smile, so I had them to fall back on.

After getting dressed in some comfy clothes I walked out to the dining room where everyone else had already started eating without me. I guess I could have been offended but I really enjoyed my shower so I didn't care that I'd missed out on few minutes of awkwardly chatting. I walked over to the table and dug straight into the food trying my hardest not to be spoken to. I didn't work. Both Rubin and Haymitch were staring at me obviously waiting for me to make some kind of comment on my personal training session. I continued to ignore them, focused solely on the meal in front of me and trying my hardest to enjoy the creamy sauce on the pasta I was eating.

"Well," Rubin said in his annoyingly humorous voice, "How'd it go?"

I shrugged, "_I_ thought I did very well. The Gamemakers however were more interested in their wine glasses than they were me."

"That was the same as me," Caden said, "It took a good five minutes before I had half of their attention."

"Don't you even start," I said with a smile, "The few that were watching me were only watching because you impressed them so much. I don't even have to ask to know how you went."

Caden blushed, "It was alright," but I could see he was holding back a smile. I rolled my eyes and considered throwing some food at him, but then decided that would be immature. Mind you I had to sit on my hands to stop myself.

"Well I guess that's all we could have really asked for," Haymitch said after taking a long swig of his wine, "As long as you two think you did ok you can't have done terribly."

"Gee thanks," I muttered under my breath.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see how you guys went," Rubin added.

We didn't really have to wait all that long. As soon as we finished eating we all migrated to the sitting room to watch the announcement of the scores on the TV. I sat down on the couch next to Macie and Caden sat surprisingly close to me on the other side arm just brushing against his. Is it weird that it was hard for me to breathe being that close to him?

Then the first picture comes up, a picture of Jett and then flashing under his face was the number ten.

"Gees way to start off an evening," Rubin said enthusiastically, then he winked at me, "You sure know how to pick a partner."

I didn't quite get what he was getting at with that but he was right, that was an amazing score. Just I guessed Jett had done brilliantly. Once again I thanked my lucky stars that he was on my team rather than someone else's because as Rubin kept pointing out, Jett was going to be one to look out for in this game.

The scores kept on coming, Angora was the next to score a ten, her partner Sylas before her scored a nine. Most of the other careers also scored high but the rest of the scores of the tributes are low in comparison. Mind you some of the others do pretty well, Porter the kid from ten that I really liked got a seven as did the scar-face from nine. Finally after the girl from eleven has scored her five they move on to Caden. I heard all the breathing in the room stop and I quickly grabbed Caden's hand and squeezed it. Then suddenly the number ten started flashing under Caden's face and a huge cheer erupted around the room. Rubin and Macie quickly jumped up and hugged each other, Haymitch gave Caden a thump on the back and I whispered into his ear,

"So it just went alright did it?"

He laughed loudly, not able to keep the smile off his face this time. I couldn't blame him. So far he had the highest score in the competition, well he was tying with Jett and Angora but still, that's no mean feat. But as soon as Caden's face and score had come it was gone and then mine was there. I tried to take long deep breathes as we all waited to see what number popped up. When a large number eight started flashing on the screen I let out a huge sigh of relief. Another cheer erupted, not quite as loud as the previous but still. Eight was still a very good score especially for a tribute from twelve. If Caden hadn't been such an overachiever my score would have looked as amazing as his did but I was happy and that's all that really mattered.

Caden smiled at me again and I smiled back, our way of congratulating each other while our nerves were still a little jumpy. Macie, Rubin and Haymitch all shouted appraises and congratulations whilst Caden and I thanked them all assuring them we couldn't have done it without them. Verity didn't get up to join in the celebrations because she thought herself above all the childish screaming and yelling. Eventually she did get up and open her mouth, but only to say a quick Goodnight and go to bed. Honestly all I wanted was to follow her lead, I was exhausted. It had been one of the most stressful days of my entire life, so many ups and downs, highs and lows that all my body wanted was a good long rest. Obviously this must have shown because it wasn't long before the other four suggested I go to sleep. Well I wasn't going to say no to them now was I? I quickly offered Caden one last congratulations before going back to my room and jumping straight into my bed.

Unfortunately, whenever I feel like I'm so tired I could fall asleep standing up as soon as I'm in bed I can't get to sleep. I was tossing and turning for what felt like forever constantly changing how many sheets I had on me or how high the fans were on. Eventually I hit some kind of wall where I was so tired my brain kind of switched off, I mean I wasn't asleep but I wasn't really awake either. The last thoughts I remember thinking before finally drifting off to sleep were,

_In two days, I will be in the arena. Two days...Two days...Two Days._


	14. Preparations

Preparations

That morning I woke up to the sound of two fists repeatedly bashing down at my door and Rubin's increasingly annoying cheerful voice saying, "Eora time to get up. We have lots to do and not much time to do it in."

I rolled over and covered my ear with a pillow so the sound was muffled but Rubin was much more patient than I was and his continues knocking eventually annoyed me so much that I got up, walked to the door and screamed at him, "I'm up already!" before slamming the door back in his face. I felt a little like an annoying little kid but hey I would have got up eventually so he didn't need to be so bloody loud. I quickly had a shower, got dressed and raced out to breakfast looking terrible. I had bags under my eyes the size of oranges from my new and apparently terrible sleeping patterns. When I got there the only other person there was Rubin. I was tempted to yell at him some more because apparently I was the only one he didn't trust to be able to get ready in time and from the lack of attendance at the table he should probably have be hassling Caden and Haymitch not me.

"Morning," he said with a little grin. I glared at him and walked straight over to get myself a large plate of food.

Once I had I sat down and had a couple of bites of my bread I decided to be civil.

"Where's Macie?" I asked through the mouthful of bread, "I thought you guys were like tied at the hip."

He smiled at me, "She's just finishing a few things up with your dress for your interview tonight. Don't worry you'll see her later."

I'd almost forgotten about the interviews, well not really forgotten but I was so stressed out about the whole training thing that I hadn't really thought about it until now. Basically what happens in the interviews is that Caesar Flickerman, who has been hosting the interviews for as long as I could remember, asks all the tributes a serious of questions so that audience, and the potential sponsors, get to know more about the tributes as people. But the really got interviews are the ones where people appear strong or alluring or something like that.

"So what are we doing today?"

"Well first you and Caden are going to spend some time with me working on more of the formalities of your interview, you know proper poise etcetera, etcetera. And then after that you'll both go spend a few more hours with Haymitch to work on what you'll actually say in your interviews and finally you'll go see Macie and Caden will see Verity and you'll get all beautified up and ready for your interview!"

"Yay!" I said badly copying his fake enthusiasm. "Sounds like _so _much fun."

Rubin rolled his eyes at me, "Look you don't have to like it cutie but you've still got to do it."

"Humph."

After another ten minutes passed and Rubin and I were still the only ones at the table I was even more annoyed than before.

"So how come you repeatedly bash down on my door until I'm up but you let Caden sleep in to his heart's content?" I asked spitefully.

Rubin's face fell, "I did wake him, just told him not to rush that's all."

"So why did I have to rush?"

"It's his sister's birthday today." Rubin said quietly.

Oh crap. I felt like such a horrible person. Despite the fact I didn't even know Caden had a sister I felt so sad for him. I'd never missed my sisters' birthday because I knew how important they were.

I quickly fell silent drowning in my own selfish stupidity.

"I wouldn't mention it if I were you," Rubin said quickly, "I think he's more unhappy because of the pain he's caused his family rather than missing his sister's birthday. I mean can you imagine, having your brother die as a birthday present."

Then just like clockwork Caden and Haymitch walked into the room. _Oh God I hope he didn't hear that. _The two of them walked in, grabbed a plate and sat down, neither looking particularly different from normal.

"So I guess Rubin's already briefed you one the plan for the day," Haymitch said as he sat down.

"Yeah," I muttered, "Formalities with Rubin, content with you, beatifying with Macie then interviews with Caesar Flickerman."

"Yep basically."

"What time are the interviews tonight?" Caden asked looking at Haymitch.

"They're scheduled to start at eight tonight so you guys need to be dressed and ready by seven thirty which means we need to get you to your prep teams at three which means that Rubin and I have four hours each with you two." Haymitch answered quickly looking up at the clock.

"Great," I said my fake enthusiasm actually sounding pretty good this time, "When do we start?"

"As soon as Caden finishes eating," Rubin said which prompted Caden to eat much faster than he had been doing before.

Eventually Caden finished eating we headed to my room to practice our presentation. Caden hesitated slightly before walking through the door to my room, which I couldn't help but laugh at, trying to decide if it was gentleman like or just prude. He smiled back at me then glanced down at the two outfits lying on my bed. One was a black suit and the other a long, frilly, puffy pink dress. I took one look at the thing and just said, "Oh no way are you going to get me into that thing." Caden laughed at me and Rubin smiled.

"Look I'm sorry and I know that pink is not really your colour but I don't know what the dress Macie has made you looks like so we have to go cover all the possibilities."

"I think you should be more worried about what Verity is going to give Caden to wear then what Macie will give me," I spat back at him venomously, "Perhaps you should have put frill on his suit."

The two of them laughed at me again and then eventually Rubin coherst me into going into the bathroom and changing into the torture dress. The first thing we had to practice was walking. Now I myself thought that I had that one down pat, until I got given a pair of high heeled shoes that were about six inches tall. Even more unfairly Caden's shoes were practically exactly the same as the ones he had been wearing before just shinier and apparently he had almost perfect walking posture. I glared at him when Rubin said he could sit down and wait until I mastered it as well as he had. He laughed at me again when he saw me glaring and I quickly hissed, "How about we swap shoes then we can see who's laughing," which of course only made him laugh even more.

I took me almost a full hour to master the walking. The shoes were so damn uncomfortable that my feet were blistered and sore and the few times I wouldn't stumble or trip I either didn't have the right posture or my shoes got caught on some of the frills on the stupid dress. By the time that I had finished Caden had also mastered another art, the art of concealing a smile.

Then came sitting gracefully which again took a very long time because of the dress. Every time I would sit down the dress would make annoying ruffling sounds that I thought couldn't be avoided but apparently Rubin thought otherwise. He wouldn't let me move on until I could sit down absolutely silently. After that came posture which again Caden seems to have naturally given to him and I seem to lack. Luckily sitting straight is easier than walking straight so I get through that pretty quickly.

The one thing that I thought I was going to master before Caden was smiling. I was feeling really good about it when Rubin said we would be learning how to smile properly because I thought that Caden being all unemotiony on camera would not be able to smile properly. However there was a catch, apparently Haymitch wanted me to smile all the time, but wanted Caden to look in some way different to me, Rubin didn't really know in which way, so once again Caden got to sit out and watch me get criticized for my lack of know how.

Once I mastered my stage smile, that's the ear to ear look at me I'm so happy to be here smile, my gracious listening smile and my sober smile, which is the yes someone has just said something sad but I'm still smiling smile, we still had a little time left over so Rubin decided to teach Caden and I to, wait for it, dance. Yes that's right I said dance. Rubin's theory I think was that if I could dance in the heels than I would be able to walk in the heels. First he showed me the steps and then attempted to get me to dance with him without looking down at me feet, which of course resulted in him getting his feet trodden on a couple of times.

Then even worse he wanted Caden and I to dance together.

"I think I'll sit out of this one," Caden said with a perfect gracious smile, which I'll admit made me a little angry that he could once again do it so perfectly, "I value my toes."

I scowled and smiled at him at the same time but Rubin insisted that we both know how to dance. Considering that I don't think either of us will be doing all that much dancing in the arena I thought it was pointless but we had half an hour and Rubin was insistent that we should learn. Rubin took Caden's arm and put it around me waist and took my hand and puck it on Caden's shoulder. Eventually the two of us got the steps

right, after a number of extremely humorous incidents, but Rubin declared that the two of lacked emotion. I found that ironic but hey he couldn't blame us for not getting excited in dance lessons. He pushed us even closer together which, I didn't think was even possible, and then said,

"Now we only have five minutes left before you go to see Haymitch. This time I want you two to really feel it. Imagine you two are dancing together at some amazing ball or something like that. I want you to look at each other the whole time and not take one look down at your feet."

The two of us laughed at him again before looking back at each other and quickly falling silent again. As the two of us danced Caden kept looking straight at me while I averted his gaze by looking over his shoulder and thinking only about where my feet were supposed to go. I had that strange sensation of not being able to breathe again that I couldn't understand.

Luckily Haymitch walked in to tell us it was time to go to lunch and Caden and I quickly stepped apart from each other. Haymitch raised one eyebrow looked between Caden and I then over to Rubin who pointed at himself as if to tell him that it was his idea. Haymitch sighed, rolled his eyes then walked out telling us we needed to come eat.

I gave Caden a small nervous smile and he gave me one back and the two us walked out of my room to the dining room. It's surprising how hungry I was after doing nothing but walking around in high heels and a long pink dress. I had wanted to get out of the dress for Haymitch's session but Rubin had insisted I wear it. Honestly I don't think he had any reason other than he enjoyed putting me through the torture of it.

After lunch the two of us went out into the sitting room with Haymitch and for the first few minutes he sat and stared off into space. When I tried to say something he quickly shushed me and said he was trying to think. I was going to say something like, "Yeah I know that's really hard for you." But when I tried to speak he shushed me again. Eventually he started speaking.

"Ok so you both agree with me when I say that you both need some kind of angle to go with so people can define you, like being strong or sexy or something, right?" He asked and we both nodded.

"So I've been thinking about the kind of angles you can come from and unfortunately the two I think will work are completely different."

"Ok," I said hesitantly getting a little bit worried.

"So Eora I'll start with you. Let's face it I don't think you can pull off being really nice or humble and honestly I don't think sexy really suits you either."

"Agreed," I said because even if it was a little offensive it was true.

"But what you do have going for you is that you are used to doing things on your own, your used to adapting to change and dealing with your situation."

I was a little confused but I was pretty sure he was talking about my parents and my sisters. "Wait. You want them to pity me? You want them to feel bad for me when I tell them I'm an orphan looking after two toddlers?" I asked, "I don't want to be pitied."

Haymitch shook his head, "I'm not trying to get them to pity you. I'm trying to get them to admire you."

"Huh?" Ok now I was confused.

"Here's how I want your interview to go. At some point Caesar is bound to ask you about your family, in fact he'll probably open with that, when he does I want you tell them the story about your dad, your step-father and your mother. Then Caesar being the emotional and dramatic guy he is will empathise with you and will try and get the audience to as well. That's when you use the sober smile Rubin taught you, you keep your chin held high and you explain how strong you've stayed through all of the heartbreak, for your sisters and for your own survival."

Now that everything made sense I liked the plan much more.

"Do you think you can do that?" he asked.

"I have to," I said with a shrug, "Like you said, I don't really have any other angle to go with."

"Good," Haymitch said before taking a deep breath and looking over to Caden, "Now you Caden are this year's big mystery. First you volunteer out of nowhere, and then you pull a ten in training. Everyone wants to know your story, who you are, where you came from, why your here. Agreed?" Caden gave a small nod and I said "yes," which prompted a smile from Caden.

"Now either we could tell them or we could let them leave even more confused and more desperate to know who you are then they were before," Haymitch said dramatically. I noticed that Caden had developed a frown as soon as Haymitch had suggested that he tell them why he was here, so ten guesses which option he wants. 'The first option will satisfy them or possibly disappoint them. The latter will drive them all so crazy that you are the only person they're thinking of after they leave. But it's up to you which you want to go with."

Caden couldn't have answered quicker if he tried, "The second one."

"Good. So after has been admired for her strength and survival skills, you will come on and be completely mysterious. You will not smile when you walk on stage, you will not smile at all throughout your whole interview unless you tell some kind of sarcastic joke. However you can't look angry or upset I need you to look-"

"Emotionless." Caden finished for him.

"Yes, like you are totally unfased by any of this."

"Oh good," I interrupted with a smirk, "he's already got that look nailed."

Caden beamed at me, "Yeah I think I'll be able to handle it."

For the rest of our time with Haymitch he pretended to be Caesar and would ask us questions and act like we were in the actual interview and we had to answer in character and try and turn the conversation in the direction we wanted it. I gave dramatic sighs here and there and told the story of my childhood so dramatically that I almost shed a tear while speaking it. Caden on the other hand never answered a question with an answer more than a sentence long, acted like he was talking to someone he didn't really like and only smiled when he made a curt or smart-ass remark. I thought for a second I was going to have to hold true to my promise and strangle him for using that annoying blank face again but decided that probably wouldn't have been the smartest thing to do to my ally.

That word made me remember my other ally. Obviously Jett had done well I mean he was one of the three who got a top score in training but I couldn't help feel like knowing Caden's interview strategy made me more prepared as an ally Because I didn't know what on earth Jett was going to do I felt like I might misinterpret something and that could be fatal.

Finally it was time to go meet Yvette, Kaci and Felicia, my prep team, to be redone for the interview. Luckily since my hair hadn't grown back at all I didn't need to be waxed at all. I did however need makeup, nail polish, exfoliating and that weird cream that Kaci rubbed all over my body last time to make my skin soft. I noticed that this time there was no debate about the colour of my nails, they were painted the exact same midnight blue my dress for the opening ceremony had been. Once again my body was covered head to toe in blue tinted glitter and my face was covered in so much makeup so that I looked flawless. Althou

gh this time something about my eye makeup looked a bit different, I couldn't put my finger on it but it made me look more elegant than I had last time. Felicia got the unfortunate job of dealing with my hair. Even she who had bright pink hair thought my hair needed to be either a little bit darker or a little bit lighter just so it wasn't this awkward colour in the middle. I rolled my eyes and though of Alara's gorgeous chocolate brown hair and how many times even I, who am not at all a vain person, had envied her slightly. Of course that was stupid because now I was missing her more than ever.

After Felicia had brushed all the knots out of it she worked on styling it. Since there was no massive debate about it I decided that Macie must have told them exactly what she wanted. Macie entered soon after before I had got to see what I looked like. In the arms of the girl behind her I could see a dress of the same midnight blue as my other dress. I gave an appreciative smile, I did like that colour.

"We decided this was your colour." Macie said with a smile. She then got the girl to hold the dress up so I could see it in proper light.

It was equally, possibly even more beautiful than its predecessor had been. It was long and thing with loose singlet sleeves, a small train, a very low back and a very low V neckline. The midnight blue silk had obviously been altered in some way because it sparkled and glittered just as much as my skin did. However it took me a moment to notice there was a long cut up the left side of the dress that went up to about where my mid thigh would have been, that I originally thought was a tear, but was actually designed that way.

I stared at it for a few seconds, "I don't think I can pull that off Macie."

She smiled, "Have some faith in me. I think you can and I've got some jewellery to go with it. The dress, the shoes, the jewels and the hair and you'll look so stunning that you'll make eyes pop," she quickly gave a devious smile and a wink, "possibly some_ particular _pairs of eyes hmmm."

I blushed though I didn't really understand what she was saying. The prep team slowly lifted the dress over my head and onto my body. It fit perfectly and the material was so soft that it made my skin tingle.

"Can I see what it looks like?" I asked but Macie quickly answered, "No. Not until I'm finished with you so you can see the full picture."

She then proceeded to open a large jewellery box that contained possibly the most beautiful things I had ever seen. The first was a gorgeous silver chandelier necklace that was encrusted with diamond shaped sapphires that almost perfectly matched the colour of my dress, only a shade or two lighter so they threw the light better. In the box there was also a pair of matching earrings and a matching bracelet. I couldn't help but gasp as I saw the three of them together; they were all so beautiful that I felt like I would just be an accessory to them if I wore them. Macie put them on me herself making sure they were positioned exactly as she wanted them. However when she was doing up the clasp of my necklace she noticed something that all three members of my prep team had missed, the long, thin light pink scar that extended from the bottom of my right shoulder up about ten centimetres. She lightly grazed her fingers along it, the texture of it obviously alerting her to its origin because as soon as she backed away it was clear she knew it was a burn.

"Felicia, Yvette, Kaci. Come look at this will you," Macie said as she turned me around so the prep team could see my burn. To give them credit, it was pretty faint; I mean it had been there for thirteen years so it had got less predominant over time. I myself hardly noticed it anymore. Kaci gasped when she finally saw it and started spluttering apologies and excuses.

"I'm so sorry Macie, please forgive me, I didn't even notice, I mean it will only take a second to fix, I can go get the cover up now if you want I can-"

I quickly cut her up with a sharp, "No."

All four of them turned to look at me. Before any of the prep team could speak Macie turned to face them.

"That isn't what matters right now, what matters is I am not satisfied with this colour of lipstick," Macie said with the wave if a hand, "Would the three of you please go back and find one that you think will suit the dress."

Yvette frowned, "All three of us?"

Macie beamed at them, "Yes all three of you. You're all professionals and I value all of your opinions equally. I trust the three of you will be able to make a sensible choice."

The three of them giggled and blubbered praises and declarations of admiration for her before they all quickly left the room. Macie turned back to me.

"You want to talk about it?" she said sounding concerned.

"Not really, no." I answered with a sigh as I sat down on a stool. I was tired already and I hadn't even got into my shoes yet.

"Well how did you get a burn like that?" Macie asked returning to examine my scar, "That has to be a least five years old."

"My father was killed trying to save me in a fire." I said nonchalantly. I had told this story so many times that it didn't really affect me anymore. Besides the only things I remember about him are what my uncle told me and what I saw in pictures.

"But you don't want to cover it up?"

"I was three years old Macie. I don't remember him at all. This burn is the only piece of him I have left and if I'm going to go out there to talk about my family I can't cover up the only proof I have of how he died."

Macie smiled a sober smile at me, "Than the burn stays. Just warning you though, even though it's practically invisible in this light, once you're out there under all those lights it's going to stand out just as much as the boy from nine's face does."

"That's ok," I said with a small smile. "Can I see what I look like now before the prep tem comes back?"

"Hang on one sec," she said as she quickly ducked out of my sight. When she came back she had a pair of silver heels that, luckily, were a good inch or two lower than the ones Rubin had me practice in. As soon as I had them on my feet Macie pulled across a screen concealing a long mirror.

I was not at all prepared for what I saw. I looked, well for lack of a better word, beautiful. The dress that made me look taller and thinner than I was and made my skin look such a lovely creamy colour. The necklace fit perfectly with the dress so that the bottom of the chandelier was exactly an inch higher than the bottom of the V neckline. My hair fell in loose waves around my face, down past my shoulders and about midway between the top of my back and where the dress was, I guess I never really noticed how long it was. Every time I moved the light would bounce of my skin or my jewellery or my dress in different directions shower the room with specks of blue light.

"Still think you can't pull off the dress," Macie said with a smirk.

"Thank you Macie, thank you so much." I said as I stared at myself in the mirror still trying to convince myself it was actually _my_ reflection I was seeing.

"You're welcome," She said beaming at me, "Once again I'm so glad I got a naturally pretty tribute or otherwise-"she never got to finish her sentence because one of the TV producers was coming to call us for line up.

"Show time," Macie said theatrically and I snorted at her.

We met Haymitch, Caden and the rest of his team outside the elevator. Apparently they finished getting ready ages ago because they were all sitting around the room looking bored. Caden looked really good in his black suit but I couldn't tell the difference between the suit he was wearing now and the one Rubin had made him wear for our practice. Maybe it was just my general lack of knowledge in this area but I was pretty sure his outfit was much simpler than mine.

I walked in pretending I was walking onto the stage just to show Rubin that I could and then when no one noticed all of us standing behind them Macie gave quick, "Eh hem," and they all turned around. The first people I noticed were Caden's prep team members, two men and a woman all equally as freaky looking as my prep tem. The second person I saw was Haymitch who was nodding approvingly at my dress. And finally my eyes met Caden's who was beaming at me. He did really have the most gorgeous eyes, it was so hard to look away from them once I had locked on to them. I gave a cute little smile back and then all of us moved into the elevator to go down for our interviews. Caden was next to me in the lift and as soon as all of the chatter got loud enough to mask his words he bent down and whispered in my ear, "You really do look stunning you know," which made me blush ever so slightly. I barely had enough time to say, "You don't look that bad yourself now that you look like you've been bedazzled," before the doors of the elevator opened and we were shoved into the line of tributes all preparing to get on stage.

Once again the order in chronological so the girl from one will go first and the boy from twelve is last. We all sit in a curved line around Caesar Flickerman and whoever he happens to be interviewing at that point and wait for our three minutes in the spot light. I could see Jett looking in our direction but when he eventually sees me he didn't wave or wink at me like I would have predicted he just stood there watching me for a while before giving me a small nod. A smiled and nodded back taking my position at the complete opposite end of the line from him.

Just before we were about to walk on to the stage Haymitch and Rubin came up behind us.

"Remember everything we went over," Rubin said, "Shoulders back, chin up, sit up straight, walk like you own the room and you'll be fine."

"And when your with Caesar remember to manipulate the conversation in the direction you want it to go," Haymitch added before I noticed that Velvet and Jett were already walking onto the stage. "If everything goes as planned the two of you should be the two biggest surprises of this competition."

"Ok," I said uneasily and with that I took a deep breath, pictured Dori and Raine's faces in my mind and then walked out into the blinding light of the stage.


	15. Interviews

Interviews

The lights on the stage in the middle of the city centre are blinding to say the least. As I walked out onto the stage I smiled so wide that my jaw started to ache and waved at a few little girls in the front row near the stage. I was almost surprised when I reached my chair that I hadn't already fallen over but these shoes were almost easy to walk in after spending hours in the ones Rubin had put me. I suppose that I should have been grateful but my feet probably would be permanently damaged so I was still just a little angry. My dress absolutely lights up on the stage, the glittery material looked like it was covered in tiny lights.

The crowd surrounding us was huge. There were special exclusive areas for VIPs and Gamemakers who obviously were too important to stand with all the 'regular' people. But I knew that no matter how big the crowd was the number of people watching on the television would be much larger, in fact probably every citizen in Panem was watching the twenty four of us at that moment.

All of a sudden Caesar Flickerman jogs onto the stage wearing the same ceremonial blue suit that he always wore to the interviews. In the sixteen years of my life I'd never seen a hunger games without Caesar involved but each year he looks exactly the same, never ages, never gains any weight. Well that's almost true. Every year he changes the colour of his hair, this year it was silver, not like a normal grey, I mean silver, like metallic shines in the light silver. I had to say the silver was an improvement on the bright apple green he had last year, that was just a really bad look. He tells the audience some apparently hilarious jokes, none of which I got, before he starts off with the interviews.

Velvet of course is first. She looked absolutely, drop dead gorgeous in a short, tight dress that is exactly the same colour as Caesar's hair. He opens with a joke about it before starting the interview. I would have thought, looking like she did, that Velvet's mentor would have tried to make her act sexy, but she did basically the opposite. She acted extremely sweet and innocent so that by the end of her interview I saw her more as a delicate, pretty little flower rather than a seductive blonde bombshell.

I knew as soon as Jett sat down next to Caesar that he was going to absolutely kill it. He and Caesar just laughed and joked around like they had known each other for years. He was bright, interesting, calm and completely confident. It was like he was born to be up there on that stage with as many eyes as possible on him. Just watching him made me feel more relaxed, like it wasn't so much of a big deal. That faded as soon as his three minutes were over. Caesar's final question to him however put me a little on edge.

"So Jett I don't mean to pry but there has been some talk," Caesar said playfully, "That you and another tribute have been particularly interested in keeping each other's company. Any chance the rumours are true?"

Hopefully no one in the audience picked up on my panicked state but I was completely freaking out about how Caesar Flickerman had any idea of what happened in the training room. I guessed that one of the other tributes had told his/her mentor about Jett and I spending so much time together and it had worked it's way down the grapevine from there. Luckily Jett being the charismatic liar he was just laughed at him.

"Caesar I don't know where on earth you get your sources but they certainly keep us all entertained."

Caesar looked downtrodden, "So you deny all the rumours."

I had so sincerely hoped that Jett would but the natural performer in him knew to leave his audience in suspense.

"No I'm not denying anything but I suppose you'll all just have to wait and see what happens after tomorrow." This of course prompted a large 'Awwwwwwww' from the crowd who appeared extremely unsatisfied. Jett once again laughed at the audience and Caesar who was about to continue begging before the buzzer went off signalling the end of Jett's interview.

Everyone else seemed to be just as prepared as Caden and I were, each person with their own approach to the interview. Angora was strong and powerful, Sylas I think was supposed to look sly and crafty but honestly to me he just seemed creepy. The girl from five had some kind of coughing fit during hers and wasted at least half of her time trying to regain her breathe. The boy from nine with the scar on his face was just as scary when he was speaking as he was to look at, deep down I hoped he was you know nice or charismatic so my original judgement of him wasn't right but I guess this time the cover was a great way to rate the book.

Possibly the only person who came close to outdoing Jett was Porter from ten, the little twelve year old I loved. He was possibly the only person I had ever seen who spoke more than Caesar did, Caesar basically didn't get a word in the entire interview. By the time Porter had finished his three minutes I knew so much about him I could have told you what his favourite colour was, red, and down to the day how much older he was than his brother, 787.

Eventually Luis, the boy from eleven, finished his interview and it was my turn. I was thanking my stars that he had been possibly the dullest and most boring person out of all of us, so hopefully I was going to look really good in comparison. When they called my name I slowly rose out of my chair and focused on walking exactly the way Rubin had taught me earlier this morning over to Caesar's outstretched hand. I shook it gently and sat down in my seat.

"Well Miss Reagan," he said with a huge smile, "I do believe we match."

The crowd laughed as they compared Caesar's suit, which he was right was almost the same colour as my dress, that was covered with thousands of tiny electric light bulbs to my silk gown that glittered and sparkled in the light.

I beamed at him hoping it looked like I found his observation funny, "Perhaps Macie had some extra inspiration she never told me about." I said my voice sounding uncharacteristically pleasant and nice.

"Well I know I am an Icon for fashion, don't you agree folks?" he said looking over to the audience who all gave a loud cheer, "So tell me Eora, how are you liking it up here in the big city?"

"Well...it's very different from home," I said hoping to direct the next question towards district twelve, "But everything is so amazing over here." That prompted another loud cheer from the audience who were apparently not at all modest.

"Well it is a long way from district twelve," he said before frowning slightly. I was about to panic because Caesar Flickerman never looked lost or confused for a second with any of the other tributes but he was staring slightly off to my right like he was trying to figure something out, "Now I'm so sorry Eora I don't mean to be rude but could you turn around for me and the audience I think I saw something that I think they should all see as well.

I didn't take me long to realise that he had fallen for the bait, he'd seen my scar and now he wanted to show it to the entire country.

I got up quickly and turned around, waiting for the gasps that were bound to come once they all realised what Caesar wanted them to see.

"So my old age isn't making me see things," he said theatrically as I sat back down. "I'm sure that scar comes with an extremely interesting story.

I decided that was the perfect time to use my sober smile. I sighed dramatically and looked up at Caesar.

"It's not really an interesting story Caesar, more of a tragic one."

"Oh go on, go on," he said the excitement in his face plain to see.

I went on to exaggeratedly describe my heartrending childhood from the untimely death of my father to the doomed love affair of my mother and step father and finally to the horrible treatment of myself and my two baby sisters by my uncle.

"So for the past four years you've been raising your two little sisters all by yourself?" Caesar said and it actually looked like he was sympathetic for me. I decided to play the modest card.

"Well not all by myself," I said, "I don't think the three of us would have survived without my best friend Alara."

"Oh I'm sure you've had some help over the years but I must say I admire your strength and determination," Caesar said his giant smile back over his face, "I mean I don't think there are many people who could have gone through everything you went through and still be able to take action and go on. Don't you think folks?" he asked the audience who screamed praises and clapped for me. I made a big show of acting grateful for their acknowledgement of me but inside I was so glad my plan, well Haymitch's plan, had gone so perfectly.

"Well we don't have much time left but let's talk a little bit more about your social life," Caesar said while inside I was massively protesting. I was not prepared to talk about school and my friends I mean I could but it was never going to be very interesting, "a gorgeous young thing like you must have some admirers. Do you have anyone special in your life?"

Well I could have answered with the complete and utter truth which would have been a very strong no. I mean sure a few guys had flirted with me here and there but at the stage of my life that I had been in I was not at all interested in getting a boyfriend. Instead I tried to work up my noble big sister thing again.

I chuckled as though I found the question somewhat funny in my own little way, "Caesar I have two toddlers to look after, do you really think I have the time for anything like that." I sounded so much like my mother when I said that that it almost made me feel upset imagining the words coming from her lips. But this was not the time break down, I could be upset later but not while everyone in Panem was watching me.

"So not even someone that catches your eye perhaps," he said hopefully, "No one you want to mention?"

I tried to act as much like Jett as I could when I laughed in response to Caesar's question.

"Sorry to disappoint you Caesar." I said just before the buzzer went off.

"Well folks it looks like we're out of time," Caesar said as he stood up to see me off, "Let's all give a round of applause for Eora Reagan, the tribute from district twelve. Best of Luck!"

And with that I walked back to my seat with a large round of applause to cheer me off. A felt a wave of relief crash over me as I sat back down in my chair, my work was done. Nothing left to do know but...kill twenty three other people. All of a sudden the interview chair seemed a much safer place than it had before.

Caden was the last person to be interviewed. He didn't smile as he shook Caesar's hand or even acknowledge Caesar's congratulation of his score. Caden just shrugged and looked out over the crowd, not at anyone in particular, just out at the distance like he was completely uninterested in the interview. Caesar tried everything he had in his book to get Caden to open up to him but he never got any information out of Caden that was of any consequence. He played his part perfectly, so well in fact that by the end of the interview Caesar was almost jumping out of his seat, dying to know a little more about this mysterious dark horse in this year's games. The only question he got a genuine answer for was his last question to Caden before they ran out of time.

"So as you know Caden," Caesar said inquisitively, "There have been some very impressive training scores this year. Who do you think is your main threat."

Caden thought for a second, "Honestly I don't think at this stage of the game anyone is a threat. I mean sure our training scores show us who are the strongest among us but those scores are based upon our ability to do well in the perfect situations for us. I don't think you can start labelling people as threats until you're actually in the arena. I mean who knows whether or not my preferred weapon will even be in the arena, or worse yet it might me an arena that completely favours one group of tributes. You never know what the arena could be like but say for example it's an island surrounded by water, than obviously the tributes who can swim are going to have a massive advantage and those who were previously 'the ones to beat' are now doomed. So I don't think at this stage any of the other tributes are threats to me yet." Caden finished literally a second before the buzzer went off.

Caesar applauded him off and the crowd yelled and hollered for much longer than it took for Caden to reach his seat. Obviously Haymitch's plan had worked perfectly, they were all desperate to know more about this puzzling volunteer from twelve. I was just a little bit jealous I mean Caden's plan was already a winner but after his little speech at the end he was mysterious _and _smart. After Caden had seated we all had to stand for Panem's national anthem and once that was over we all filed back into the training centre lobby. In the swarm of people I looked around for someone I knew but when I couldn't see anyone I jumped in an elevator and headed back up to the twelfth floor.

I was the first one back so I wasn't really sure what to do with myself until I heard a large grumble come from the direction of my stomach and realised how hungry I was. I walked into the dining room where the same serving man was waiting, looking bored, for our return. He gave me a thumbs up which I assume meant that he thought I did well in my interview. I smiled in thanks before grabbing a large plate of food and sitting down. Rubin and Macie were the first to join me and they both congratulated me on such a great performance in my interview.

"Honestly Eora you're story was so sad I was close to tears," Macie said after she had grabbed herself some food.

"And everyone I talked to was completely baffled by how well you've coped with everything," Rubin added, "Haymitch's plan couldn't have gone better, they 're all in complete awe of you."

"Thanks," I said with a small blush on my cheeks. As much as I disliked everyone knowing my entire life story it apparently had worked wonders. "By the way Macie you didn't actually design my dress inspired by Caesar Flickerman's suit did you."

"Oh god no!" She said with a laugh, "That was a total coincidence."

"Good because that would have ruined the whole dress for me."

Haymitch walked in a few seconds later. Before he moved to get any food he asked sternly.

"Who's idea was it to leave the scar exposed?"

I was a little scared for a second thinking he was going to scream at me or something after Macie said, "Eora's," but to my surprise he started laughing hysterically and I felt relieved.

"I underestimated you my girl," he said with a proud smile, "That was a stroke of genius on your part."

"Why so surprised," I asked modest boldly. Haymitch laughed and proceeded to go and get his dinner. Caden took another ten minutes to get back to our floor.

"What took you so long?" I asked when he walked in the room and as I finished up what remained of my pumpkin soup.

"I was waiting for _you_," he said which of course made me feel extremely guilty.

"I've been here for ages."

"Trust me I know." He said with a smile.

After Caden had finished all his food Haymitch and Rubin wanted us to watch the replay of our interviews. I however was utterly exhausted and just wanted to go to bed and sleep.

"Do I really have to watch the interviews Haymitch," I pleaded, "I mean I was there. I think I know what's going to happen."

"You should see what you looked like on TV," Haymitch insisted but luckily Caden came to my rescue.

"I don't think we'll be able to change anything anyway Haymitch, even if we do look terrible. I don't know about Eora but I'm beat. Honestly I think the best thing we can do to prepare ourselves for tomorrow is to get some sleep. "

Haymitch sighed, "Fine. Go. But I think you'll find sleeping is harder than it sounds."

I celebrated my own personal little victory and then turned around to walk down the hall. Just as we reached the door to my room I remembered something I had planned to do that day.

"Caden," I called out and he turned back around to look at me a puzzled look on his face, "What's her name?" I said quietly.

"Who's?"

"You're sister?"

Caden's face fell, and he barely whispered when he said, "Adara."

I walked forward and gently put my arms around him and rested my head on his shoulder.

"Happy Birthday Adara."


	16. Let the Games Begin

Let the Games Begin

It was Macie that woke me that morning. She was going to be the one who escorted me to the catacombs under the arena, where I would be dressed and ready to be entered into the arena itself. She woke me before dawn, covered me in a thin light robe and guided me up onto the roof of the training centre. To put it politely it was kind of cold standing up there, in the wind, at the crack of dawn, with basically no clothes on, so I was about to start yelling at Macie before a giant hovercraft appeared out of thin air and a long ladder is dropped down. I wasn't quite sure whether I was supposed to climb it or not because that could have been hard in that robe but luckily as soon as I grabbed onto the ladder it pulled me up. Waiting for me in the helicopter was a young man in a white lab coat, and he was accompanied by a very large looking needle.

"Eora, this is just your tracking device," he said as he lightly tested the needle, "Now please try and keep as still as possible so I can place it correctly."

He took my forearm and without giving me anymore notice, no countdown or anything, shoved the needle into my arm and pushed the metal tracking device into my arm. As you can see the day was off to a magnificent start.

Eventually Macie was lifted up from off the roof and the two of us were escorted to a room where there was as much food as normal for people in the capitol. As usual Macie didn't touch any of it, but I ate more than I probably should have; only because after this I probably wasn't going to have much access to food, I mean they're not called the Hunger Games for no reason. The two of us remained silent for the entire meal, because I was so horribly nervous and she now knew me well enough not to make pathetic chit chat and attempt to lighten my mood.

The entire ride only took about forty five minutes. Before we got within five minutes of the arena the staff blacked out our windows, probably so that I didn't get a glimpse of my future graveyard. Ok that was pessimistic, the future graveyard of my twenty three competitors. Macie and I were lead back towards the ladder that we were hoisted up on only instead of being hoisted up off a roof we were lowered down into an underground tube. From there we were lead towards the Stockyard. Ok it's not actually called the Stockyard, that was just a name that the people in the districts came up with for the 'Launch Rooms' because it was where all the animals get prepared for their slaughter.

Once we were there I had a shower and washed my teeth and face. Macie tied my hair back with a band but the small wisps of hair around my face that she couldn't pull back she just left, in fact she actually pulled out a few long strands of my hair so that they hung out and framed my face.

"No reason you can't look gorgeous," she said with a small smile. I tried to smile back but found that I just felt like crying, which definitely wasn't a good thing.

Unfortunately it wasn't Macie that designed my arena outfit, someone in the capitol did and I'll be wearing the same thing that every other girl tribute will be wearing, so everything's fair and even blah blah blah. When the clothes arrived my nerves got even worse. I couldn't force myself to open the package and see what was in it so Macie did it for me, pulling out a few pieces of clothing at a time. The first was a thin, light brown singlet top that fit me tightly when I put it on. After that came equally thin and tight long black pants. The shoes I had to wear were strong comfortable boots that took a long time to do up with all the annoying criss-crossing laces. Then came a surprise, a very large and very thick white jacket. As Macie handed it too me she started rattling on about some it's properties.

"The material on the outside is waterproof, and there's wool lining on the inside," she said with a small frown slowly creeping across her forehead, "It basically looks like it's designed to preserve body heat. But if you look closely," she said as she held up the jacket, "There's a zip here."

I hadn't even noticed the zip at all, so I was extremely surprised when Macie started unzipping the woollen lining from the waterproof outside of the jacket.

"You can unzip the lining from the outer coating," Macie said with a puzzled expression on her face.

"Why would I want to do that," I asked because chances were she understood the mechanical properties of clothes more than I did.

"I'm not quite sure," she admitted, "This jacket is really puzzling me. I mean your whole outfit suggest that you would be going into hot conditions but the jacket looks like something someone would wear in very cold conditions."

I didn't really know how to respond and to be honest I was freaking out inside so I decided it wasn't really Macie who needed the comforting. All I could think of was what would be waiting for me in the arena and what I was going to do once I got inside. Great now I was thinking about last night, just after I had retired to my room when Rubin and Haymitch had come into try and prepare me.

I obviously wasn't exactly in the best mood when they came in and due to my bad mood I found their presence annoying and frustrating, in all honesty I just wanted to sleep. But the two of them insisted I listen for a few moments.

"We just want to talk about what you're going to do once you get into the arena," Haymitch said.

"I thought we already discussed that," I responded curtly, longing to lie down in the huge comfy bed behind me.

"We mean the second you get into the arena, not in the long run." Rubin said, quickly coming to the defence of his team mate. It was obvious that I was outnumbered in this discussion.

I sighed, "Fine."

"We know you're fast Eora," Haymitch said as he sat down, "But you're not strong. If you get caught up in the bloodbath at the Cornucopia you're doomed."

"So what we want you do," Rubin said with a little smile, "Is run."

"Run where?" I snapped.

"As far away from that Cornucopia as possible," Haymitch said patiently, "Putting as much space between you and everyone else."

"Let me get this straight," I said, "You want me to just run like a scared little girl into whatever is waiting for me, be it desert, forest or lake, completely unarmed, with no food and no other provisions."

"Yes," the two of them said together.

"That's suicide," I said, my volume slowly increasing, "I need something to defend myself with at least!"

"All you _need_," Haymitch said equally as loud as me, "on the first day is water."

"Who cares about making it through the first day?" I yelled, that's right I was yelling now, "Why bother if I'm just going to get impaled on the second day by someone _with_ a weapon? Or if I starve because I didn't grab a pack?"

"That's what you need to do Eora," Rubin yelled back, "You need to survive the first day so you can make it to the second and to the third. And if you run into that bloodbath you will not get passed the first day because it's not called the bloodbath because it's a nice little fight. That's the point where those nice kids turn into monsters and animals and you'll be like a mouse fighting lions. You-will-not-win."

"Says _you."_ I screamed.

"Yes," Haymitch roared, "Says us. Because like it or not Miss Reagan the two of us have been playing this game much longer than you have and we've seen plenty of half decent kids with potential get massacred at the base of that cornucopia and they all had the same stupid argument as you do."

"Well if I'm just going to get killed later on, why prolong it?" I shouted, "If I don't have any kind of weapon I will die later so why not just get it over with quickly hey."

"Because you _could_ win this," Rubin bellowed, "You just need to listen to us and run for the hills Eora. "

"You know what I really need," I yelled as I glared at them both, "I need to sleep. So please, just leave."

"Fine," Haymitch spat and he turned around and stormed out of the room. Rubin's chest fell and he let out a deep sigh as he walked towards the door. He turned back around to meet my glare but his face was simply a mixture of sadness and compassion. I wouldn't meet his eyes so he turned back around to the door and walked through it slowly shutting it behind him.

I snapped back into reality and decided there were probably a few things I needed to settle before I left the launch room.

"Macie would you do me a favour?" I asked quietly.

"Sure hun'," she said with a radiant smile.

"Would you tell Haymitch and Rubin goodbye for me," I asked tentatively, "And tell them I'm sorry I yelled at them."

Macie smiled, "Tell them yourself when you get back."

I rolled my eyes before giving a cautious glance, "You really think I can win this thing."

"I think you have as good a chance as any," she said beaming at me. Her presence made me feel a little bit more confident but I still wasn't feeling all that great. Then suddenly she let out a little, "Oh!" and quickly reached inside the pocket of her jumper. What she pulled out was a brilliant, thick banded blue bracelet. It was made of silver and encrusted with sapphires and immediately I thought it must have been one of the bracelets I wore at the interview. That was until I noticed that in the centre of the bracelet, dividing the sapphires into two sides was a long white ribbon that had also been lacquered down and glossed over. I gasped as I remembered where that ribbon came from; Alara gave it to me on the day of the reaping.

"I noticed you don't have a token from home," Macie said with a compassionate smile, that unfortunately reminded me of her brother the last time I had seen him, "So I thought this way you'd have a little piece of home and a little piece of me."

I was completely speechless. The thought of having a piece of Alara and my sisters was so great that I wanted to cry again but managed somehow to hold the tears back. All I managed to do was nod and I think I might have whispered a small "Thank you," but I'm not sure if it was audible or not. I gave Macie a soft hug; slightly afraid that I might break her she was so small but she returned it just as softly. Just then I heard a lovely girlish voice announce that it was time to start.

I pulled back but Macie held onto my hand, and slid the bracelet onto my wrist. I looked up into her eyes and she looked back into mine, nodding slightly. I nodded back and tried to blink back the oncoming tears before walking over to the circular metal plate that will raise me up into the arena. Macie was trying her hardest to smile at me to make me feel better but I could see one long tear running down her cheek. Suddenly a glass cylinder is lowering around me and Macie had to step back so she wasn't crushed from under it. She gave me a quick thumbs up and I did my best to smile at her before the glass cylinder started raising me upwards. I was in the cylinder for about fifteen seconds, surrounded by nothing except for darkness which I have to admit scared me even more than the prospect of what was outside did. Then the metal plate pushed me out of the cylinder and into the bright warm air surrounding me. The next thing I hear is the only man who can boast of being involved in the Hunger Games as long as Caesar Flickerman, Claudius Templesmith, the announcer for the Games, his voice filling every single particle in the air.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, let the Fifty-Eighth Hunger Games begin!"

The next sixty seconds were agonizingly painful. For the first sixty second of the games the tributes are forced to stand on the metal circles they were lifted up on until we hear a gong strike signalling the end of the sixty seconds. What happens if you step off the circle you ask well, the circles are surrounded by a ring of highly sensitive landmines, I'm sure you get the picture.

The arena was unlike any I'd ever seen before. True it wasn't any wasteland or frozen hell. The actual conditions were beautiful, possibly the closest to perfection I'd ever seen, unnatural blue skies and a soft warmth in the sunlight. It was the shape of the arena that made it so interesting rather than the foliage or the weather. It appeared that the Cornucopia was placed in the centre of a flat, wide valley. On my right hand side was a long ridge of hills covered in lush looking forest. Directly to my left was a river that was maybe only ten metres wide but seemed to complete a full circle around the base of the mountain. Oops how silly of me did I not mention the _giant freaking mountain? _It was taller than anything I had ever seen before, almost blocking out the sun from where I stood and casting a shadow at least a hectare or two wide.

_The arena must be circular shaped_, I thought to myself quickly because the river was circling around the river, the valley was circling the river and the hillside was circling the valley. I made sure to remember that for later, you never know what might come in handy.

I looked around at the other tributes. We were all in a circle, equally spaced from each other and the cornucopia. On my right was the boy from five, Keenan his name was, now that my senses were heightened my memory was back to its normal, well my old friends would say abnormal, capabilities. On my left was the Selah, the girl from eleven but I was cursing my luck because next to her was Angora. I hated being this close two her but hey, I suppose the universe hasn't done enough to me over the years, why not torture me for a while longer.

I took me a few precious seconds to find Caden and Jett. The two of them were, conveniently of course, exactly opposite each other, Caden being six tributes to my left and Jett six to my right. It wasn't going to be easy for the three of us to collaborate but I supposed that wasn't exactly my main priority right at that moment.

Out of the corner of my eye I say the girl from nine, Bryanna, standing maybe three tributes to my left and she was holding onto a small wooden ball. Then almost as if it were in slow motion I saw the ball slip from her grasp and fall down onto the ground and then there was the loudest, unearthly 'Bang!' and suddenly all that was left of her was a few chunks of flesh. I heard a few of the younger girls scream and I knew that I should be tormented and appalled after watching a young girl get blown to bits but as horrible as it sounds all I could think was _one down_.

Instead I focused in on the fountain of life saving provisions all strewn around the cornucopia. There were so many things that would have been so useful for everyone. From food to extra clothes, weapons, protective gear, medicine you name it, it was lying somewhere around that cornucopia. It was so tempting, all the things that I wanted, things that I _needed_. Now that I was less tired I was seeing the wisdom in Rubin and Haymitch's words but still I could see right in front of me a little backpack that surely would have something of value inside. And even

more tempting right at the base of the Cornucopia was sheath of at least half a dozen knives, ten guesses who that was there for. Imagine how many people I could take down with those. And I was fast, I would definitely be in there before anyone else, the only problem was getting out.

I knew my minute was nearly almost up and I needed to decide fast. Then the gong sounded and I was off, straight forwards towards the cornucopia. I scooped up the backpack and kept going forwards, collecting a tiny pack of food and a bottle of water within five strides. As I ran I thought about how far in I was going to go, as tempting as that sheath of arrows was, if I went to the base of the cornucopia there was no way I was going to make it out alive. I came up to a larger backpack and quickly gathered that up as well swinging it over my shoulders over the top of the smaller one. The next thing in front of me was a long, jewel handled knife. That was it, that was all I needed, one weapon was all I needed to give myself some reassurance and then I was hightailing it back the way I came.

Unfortunately that was not at all as easy as it sounded. As soon as I had the knife and turned around the whole scene behind me shifted. Because I had been in the front I hadn't seen all the chaos behind me. There were people fighting, people lying on the ground and in the split second it had taken me to readjust to what I was seeing it was all heading closer in towards me. I tried to find a path completely out of the way of everyone but there just wasn't one and in my hesitation the leaders of the other packs had made it to the base of the cornucopia. I turned back around and I could see most of the careers and a few other stragglers quickly picking through weapons. I still had no sight of Jett or Caden, hopefully they were both alive.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw something flying towards me. I quickly ducked just as the sharp edged disc flew right over where I had been. I turned back around to see who it was that had thrown it when the boy from eight was right on top of me. Luckily he was unarmed and had hoped to knock me out, being the much larger and stronger of the two of us I'm sure he would have, but I had a knife and I quickly stuck it into his left bicep as he reached out to grab me. He yelled out in pain and I quickly drew the knife away as he momentarily sunk to the floor.

I turned around but before I had even breathed I felt a sharp pain in my side and I was looking into a pair of exceptionally beautiful eyes. Velvet's angelic features were shaped in a sadistic kind of smile as she thrust her dagger into the gap between my pelvis and my ribcage on the right hand side of my body.

_And you had seemed so nice, _I thought_, Stupid but nice. _The word 'nice' gave me a quick flashback of one of the last things Rubin had said to me, _the point where those nice kids turn into monsters and animals. _

Rubin and Haymitch were right; I should have run for the hills when I had the chance. I couldn't believe that I was going to die at the hands of Velvet, of people Velvet. I was almost embarrassed. I mean at least if it had been Angora that was going to kill me it could be justified but _Velvet_, that was just sad.

Something must have scared her because after those few seconds it took her to stab me she was gone, without even enough time to pull the knife out of my abdomen. And so without her holding me up I slumped down onto the floor ground, the pain slowly becoming less and less as more and more blood started flowing from the wound.

_And here is the place where I will die._


	17. Pain

**Hey everyone! I'm sorry this chapter has taken so long(I know I left it on kind of a cliff-hanger) but my laptop got some kind of virus on it and I was right in the middle of writing this chapter and couldn't access the other half of it. Anyway I hope it was worth the wait…**

Pain

_I have to be dead...right?_

Come on you all would be thinking the same thing in my position. I had just been stabbed. As in just had a knife thrust into my abdomen. You have to admit, things weren't exactly looking all that great right then.

My theory was confirmed when I used the meagre amount of energy I had left to open my eyes and saw a line of hills quickly coming towards me. And not just any hills either, these hills I had seen just before I had died. I was still in the arena.

What kind of horrible, sadistic afterlife was this? So what, this was to be my fate, I was to stay here stuck in the place where I was killed for however long the world existed? Whose idea was that? I was about to have a go at any and every god ever worshipped by anyone on any planet when I remembered one little crucial element of my observation, hills don't move.

If those hills were getting closer to me it wasn't because they were moving towards me, it was because I was moving towards them. And from my experience, and I have had plenty of people around me die, dead people don't move.

_Maybe I'm not dead…_

And as soon as the thought entered my head I knew I was right, because all of a sudden I could feel the place where Velvet had thrust her dagger into my abdomen, correction, where that dagger was _still in my abdomen_. The pain was indescribable but I couldn't scream, couldn't move, couldn't do anything. I just didn't have the energy, the strength, to do anything but feel the sharp, stabbing, tearing pain in my abdomen and the disturbingly warm feeling of, presumably my blood, seeping down over me. Then a small puzzling problem arose;

_If I don't have enough strength to move a finger, how am I getting closer and closer to that hillside?_

I opened my eyes again and tried to look around to make more sense of everything. I could see the Velvet's knife still sticking out of my abdomen, even though I tried my hardest not to look at it. But beyond that I could see my legs, my knees almost in line with my face. I wasn't even standing up. And underneath my knee I could see someone's arm. I was suddenly aware of another arm around my back and my ribcage, holding my tightly and securely. I was being carried.

I tried to look up and see who it was that had picked me up and now was apparently running, with me in their arms, towards the shelter of the hillside and away from the bloodbath. But I heard him before I could see him.

"Eora?"

"Caden," I managed to choke out. Hearing him speak sent a wave of relief over me.

I heard him let out a huge sigh of relief before he started to speak again.

"Eora listen to me," he said his voice still strong but there was a small shake in it, like he was scared of something, "Try your hardest not to move, or talk. Just stay still and try and conserve your energy."

That I could do. I closed my eyes and tried my hardest not to focus on the pain before Caden quickly yelled my name again. My eyes snapped open, thinking that perhaps someone was attacking us, I started to panic a little. But there was no one else in sight, only lots and lots of trees. I looked back up at Caden, his face showing obvious relief but, dare I say it, looking a little bit panicked.

"I just…It's just..." he stammered, "Could you do me a favour and just keep your eyes open?"

I must have looked as puzzled as I felt at this request because he explained himself quickly, "Just so I know you're not dead."

Since I was trying my hardest not to move or talk I just moved my head ever so slightly so that I was resting against Caden's chest and used all my remaining energy to keep my eyes open. I could have pointed out that it is completely possible for a person to die _with_ their eyes open, but considering that Caden was currently, you know, saving my life I figured that if all he needed from me was to keep my eyes open then that's all I would do.

As soon as we were far enough into the trees that I couldn't see the valley, or anyone fighting in it, Caden stopped running and instead started looking around, probably for a place to hide. It took us 45 minutes to reach the ridge of the hill we were on. If this weren't the Hunger Games, I think I really would have liked it here. Everything was so green and lush and it the air smelt clean and crisp. The rocks were covered in soft looking moss and there was a layer of fallen leaves covering the ground. The whole forest was surprisingly bright, but that was explained when I looked up at the canopy. Well I'm not sure you could really call it a canopy because it was letting in so much light, but despite there being so many trees there were holes and gaps all through the canopy that I couldn't account for.

Eventually we got to a clearing. It was beautiful really, the bright green grass, the warmth of the sunlight, the clear blue sky above us. It was the kind of place you could imagine having a picnic in, if we had had any food. Which reminded me, I had grabbed some food when I stupidly ran into the bloodbath, hadn't I? Apparently somewhere down the line I had dropped it and the bottle of water I had grabbed, but I hadn't even noticed that I still had the jewel handled knife, the one that I had used to stab the boy from eight, in my hand. I looked back up at Caden and saw that he had around his shoulder the two packs I had picked up plus an extra black bag that he must have had.

But as well as what he was carrying he looked exhausted. I couldn't really blame him, I mean most people would get tired running for as long as he had, especially carrying another person. And I know everyone keeps saying that, quote, "I'm not big," I still weigh a good 45-50 kilos, which after carrying around for half an hour can feel pretty heavy.

"Caden," I said, my voice sounding a little stronger than it had before. "You need to stop for a second. You look completely worn out and this looks as good a place as any to stop and rest."

"I'm fine," he moaned firmly. But his hoarse breathing and red cheeks gave him away.

"No your not. You can't breathe properly, you're red in the face and you're getting slower and slower with each step." The last one wasn't actually true but I thought it might help my case a little.

He shook his head and refused to look at me, instead he looked out at whatever was in front of him, looking determined and stubborn at the same time.

"That doesn't matter," he said intently, "I'm not the one we should be worrying about. I need to get you somewhere out of plain sight so we can try and fix you."

I sighed. Though I was completely grateful to him and I found his protectiveness of me sweet, for lack of a better word, I thought that his stubbornness was uncharacteristically stupid. What he failed to acknowledge was that if he worked himself too hard and collapsed then both of us would be as good as dead. So I decided to go for a different angle to make him see sense.

"Fine then _I_ need to rest." I said equally as stubbornly as him, "Please I just need to stop moving for five minutes and I'll be fine."

He finally decided to meet my gaze. It was strange to see that he looked in more pain than I did but for some reason I didn't think his had anything to do with anything physical. But he wasn't going to argue with me so finally he stopped. He walked over to one of the large moss-covered rocks in the clearing and leant me up against it before sitting down next to me. I could see that no matter how much he had protested that he was fine he was glad to be sitting down for a second.

Something about being upright made the pain less prevalent but I still felt awkward with the knife in my stomach.

"Can you do me a favour Caden," I asked nonchalantly, "Could you pull out the knife that's in my abdomen?" I'll admit, that's not a question I ask every day.

"No," he said as he looked back over at me.

"No?" I said completely and utterly confused.

He laughed, which was a little weird given the current situation, but thinking back on it I had sounded a little funny.

"Look it's not that I don't want to pull it out," he said lightly, "But right now that knife is the only thing stopping you from bleeding out and I don't know about you but I'd like it if you didn't die just yet."

"Would that really be such a bad thing?" As soon as I said it I knew I should have kept the thought in my head. Caden's mouth dropped and his eyes became wide and incredulous.

He glared at me as he said, "Yes that would be a very bad thing."

"Think about it Caden," I said trying to explain myself to him, "Chances are I'm going to die anyway and when my sisters are old enough to understand everything and they ask Alara how their sister died, I'd rather she was able to say 'relatively peacefully around someone she knew and liked'" I smiled at him hoping that would cheer him up but it didn't work, "than 'horribly and painfully at the hands of some monstrous kid.'"

Caden's face became less angry but he still didn't look like he understood. His voice was light and soft as he said, "Well when my little brother is old enough to understand everything and he has to ask my parents how I died, I'd want them to be able to say that I died fighting rather than because I gave up."

I looked back up at him. He was right. I was giving up. Giving up on him, giving up on my sisters and giving up on me. And we all deserved better than that.

"You're right," I said apologetically, "I'm sorry."

He tried to smile but he was obviously still mad, "I'm just glad you had that thought now rather than later in the midst of fighting someone."

I smiled at him before quickly yelling out in pain. I had almost forgotten it was there for a second but now it was back and worse than before. Before I'd even had a second to try and forget about it again Caden was back over me and scooping me up into his arms.

"We need to find somewhere where we can stay for longer," he said once he was up again, "This place is to open and there's no water source near."

I could feel the knife slowly driving deeper and deeper into me and I had to bite down on my lip to keep from screaming. I wanted so badly to scream but I knew I couldn't, not only would it be like lighting a flare and telling everyone exactly where I was but I couldn't freak Caden out anymore than he already was. But the pain just kept building and building until I could feel tears sliding down my cheeks and I could feel myself getting lightheaded and dizzy. Then I was out cold.

The next thing I knew I was laying on the ground, my jacket beneath my head being used like a pillow. I opened my eyes and saw two walls of rock on either side of me. I was in some kind of crevice, five or so metres wide at the bottom but barely centimetres wide at the top. The ground was hard but there were no rocks under me.

I thought I was all alone but I felt someone lightly squeeze my hand. I looked over and Caden sighed in relief again.

"You scared me," he said gently.

"I'm sorry," I said with a small smile, "I'll try me hardest not to pass out again."

I tried to sit up but got some massive head rush and thought I was going to pass out again before Caden put his arm around me to support me.

"How long have I been out?"

"Only fifteen minutes or so."

"You found _this_ in fifteen minutes." I was impressed.

He shrugged, "I kind of had to. I thought you were dying or something. Decided that for the mean time it would do."

I looked back around the crevice. It definitely would do. It was probably the best shelter he could have found, except maybe a cave. There might have been a few of them on the mountain but I doubted there'd be any where we were. I noticed he had a huge flask of water sitting near him. Before I had the chance to ask he explained,

"There's a brook a few hundred metres away."

I looked down at my wound and what do you know there was still a knife in it.

"Can we take the knife out now?" I asked.

He smiled at me, "I was just going to check and see if we have any bandages in either of your packs before I took it out."

"Fine."

He opened up the first pack, the small green one that had been the first thing I picked up. Inside was some cheese, a small loaf of bread and a bottle of iodine to use to purify water.

"Well at least we won't starve," I said looking hopefully at Caden, hoping that maybe he would find that in some way funny. He didn't. He was about to open the bigger pack when I heard the sound of a cannon firing.

"The bloodbath must be over," Caden said looking back in the direction of the mountain, even though the walls of rock surrounding us obscured it from our vision.

The cannon shot was followed by another, and another, and another. I was expecting it to go on for ages when suddenly it went silent again. I was still waiting for more cannon shots. I counted six in total.

"Six?" I asked Caden and he nodded, "How could there have only been six people dead?"

"I don't know," he said looking down into the bigger pack he was about to open, "But that's good for us. It means more people for others to pick off."

"And more that could pick us off," I said to myself.

Caden ignored me and continued opening the pack. The first thing he brought out was a long stretch of bandage. I could tell that he was relieved to see it but I wasn't quite as happy, while there was a lot of it I knew that it wasn't going to be enough to stop the bleeding. But the only thing I wanted right then was that knife out of me so I shut up and pretended to look relieved. There was also a thick plastic tarpaulin, a box of matches, a small pot and another knife.

"Well you have the bandages," I said impatiently, "Can we please pull this thing out know."

"Ok, ok," Caden said obviously knowing that I wasn't going to wait forever, "But you might want to lie down."

I lay back down on the ground and took a few deep breaths. Pulling the knife out couldn't hurt nearly as much as having thrust in, could it? Caden put both hands around the knife and took a deep breath.

"On the count of three. One. Two…" I braced myself as I knew what was going to happen when he said three but he didn't get that far because just at that moment a small silver parachute landed just a few inches away from me. We both knew what that meant, it meant that Haymitch had sent us something, that someone had sponsored us and know Haymitch was sending us something that we needed.

"Who do you think it's for?" I asked quietly.

"Well since you got stabbed today why don't you take it," Caden said handing the package to me. It was a small box and as soon as I opened it I felt a little queasy.

"Oh you are not going to like this one bit," I said as I turned the box around and showed him the contents of it. It was a suture kit, complete with a long needle, some kind of strong wire and more bandages.

Caden just stared at it for a few seconds before I said, "Well come on, I'm not going to stitch myself up."

Caden shook his head as he said, "Nuh-uh no way am I going to give you stitches. I can't"

"Haymitch seems to think you can."

He was still shaking his head, "I'm guessing you've never had stitches before then."

"No."

"Well I have," he said finally looking back at me, "And I had them with an anaesthetic and they still hurt."

"Caden," I sighed, "You said yourself it would be a bad thing if I died. You'd have to be really lucky to stop the bleeding with that amount of bandage and even if you did there's a huge chance the wound would get infected and I'd die anyway. Now I'm prepared to let you stick a needle through my skin, so you should have absolutely no problem doing it."

Caden looked absolutely miserable as he reluctantly took the suture kit from me. I lay back down on the ground and closed my eyes to prepare for the pain. Caden didn't count down this time; he just quickly pulled the knife out. It did hurt but not nearly as much as I was anticipating but as soon as it was out I could feel the blood start to seep out of the wound and I started to feel like I might pass out again. Caden quickly lifted up my singlet so he could see the wound and I heard him gasp as he looked at it. Never a good sign.

He turned around and grabbed the flask of water and poured it over my stomach to wipe away the blood. He tried to use the bandages to soak up as much of it as he could but there seemed to just be more and more. I saw his hand shaking as he reached down towards the already threaded needle. With one hand he braced to put the first suture in and with the other he grasped on to my hand, whether to give me comfort or him I wasn't really sure.

And then I felt the needle go through my skin and I screamed. Caden was right, stitches hurt. It felt like my skin was being pulled together as well as being stabbed again and again and again. Every time Caden would do another suture I would scream again. I couldn't see very well through my tears but I could hear the pain in Caden's voice as he tried to comfort me.

"Shhh I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he kept saying over and over the agony in his voice plain to hear, "Shhh I know it hurts Eora but you need to try and be quiet please please please be quiet."

I tried my hardest but the pain was too much to bear, which is weird because you'd think that being stabbed would hurt more but that was so fast and so sudden that I just passed out. Not with this though, with this I could feel every single movement of that needle as it went through into my skin.

After what felt like hours Caden finally used the knife to cut of the end of the wire and tie it up. I could feel all the tears running down my cheeks and I could hear the choking sobbing noises coming from my mouth. Caden quickly put his hand over my mouth and continued trying to calm me down. When eventually I had stopped sobbing and crying he went back to the wound. He poured more water over it got out some more bandages.

"Eora, I need you to try and stand up for a second," he said softly. He waited for me to nod before he grabbed me around the waist and hoisted me up onto my feet. He kept his arms around me as he braced me to stand on my own, for the first time since this morning. As he let go of me I felt a little wobbly and for a second I thought I might fall over but Caden's arms kept me upright and after a few minutes I could stand without his help. He bent back down to get the bandages and then proceeded to wrap them around my stomach until I couldn't see the neat line of stiches anymore. When he had finished bandaging me Caden slid my blood stained singlet back over the bandages and helped me sit back down.

It was late in the afternoon but so much had happened already that both of us were exhausted. Since I could barely stand it wasn't exactly smart for us to leave our little crevice and like Caden said it was good enough for the mean time. I actually thought that we'd have to be the luckiest people alive, which I so was not, to find anywhere better, I mean we had protection from the elements, we were hard to spot and we had more than one exit strategy in place.

I was sitting up against one of the rock walls and Caden was sitting against the other, both of us too tired to get up and do something worthwhile.

"Why are you helping me Caden?" I finally asked. It had been bugging me for a while actually, why he was so stubborn about making sure I lived and why he tried so hard to keep me alive.

For the first time all day he smiled genuinely at me, "We're partners. That's what we do."

"I don't think this," I said nodding down to my stitched up wound, "Is in the job description."

"That _is_ the job description." He said his smile sincere and his eyes just as gorgeous as ever, "We help each other."

"Sure maybe you're supposed to help me from getting hurt, but I don't think you have to help once I have been hurt."

Caden's smile faded and he looked down at the ground.

"You're more than just my ally Eora," he said quietly, "You know that."

He was right, Caden was probably now the closest friend I had, besides Alara of course but I hardly considered her just a friend anymore, Alara was my third sister. But the word ally trigged another thought.

"Speaking of allies," I said inquisitively, "Did you see Jett anywhere?"

Caden's face turned to something like a sardonic smile.

"Yeh I saw him."

"And?"

"And what?" Caden snapped.

"And did you speak to him? Did you arrange somewhere to meet?"

He laughed but it wasn't in anyway a humorous laugh more an ironic one.

"No I can't say I did."

I felt like I was missing something. Caden had always been relatively distrusting towards Jett but he had never been openly hostile towards him. In fact the last time the two of them said anything to each other Caden had wished him good luck on his individual training session.

"Why not?" I asked, a little confused.

Caden looked back up straight into my eyes, his amazing blue eyes sharp and piercing. His face was full of anger as he said,

"Because he tried to kill me. Jett tried to kill me."


	18. The Truth

**Hi everyone! I am so sorry this chapter to so long to come but I literally got my laptop back yesterday and have been writing all day to get this chapter out. Hope you enjoy!**

The Truth

"_What?"_

I tried my hardest to protest what I just heard. Jett couldn't have tried to kill Caden, could he? I mean Caden had just kind of saved my life, why would Jett want to stop him?

"You heard me," Caden said glaring at the ground in front of him.

"You can't just say that and not give me a full explanation."

"What more is there to say," he said looking back up to yell at me.

"Well, just walk me through it," I said steadily trying my hardest to keep him calm, "Tell me exactly what happened after I...blacked out."

Caden sighed, took a deep breath before starting again.

"I was already running in your direction when I saw Velvet come up behind you. I was just about to yell out to you when I saw you turn around and I saw her stab you." He paused for a second to make sure I wasn't upset. When I gave him a small nod to reassure him he continued. "I picked up the pace because I was pretty sure that Velvet hadn't stabbed you in a place that would kill you. She probably _would_ have killed you if Davion from nine hadn't come in from the side and nearly got her."

Well that took me by surprise. Whether he had done it on purpose or not, I now apparently owed my life not only to Caden but Scarface from nine.

"Luckily everyone else who came near you thought you were dead or dying so no one else attacked you. You were bleeding pretty badly when I got to you but I was pretty sure I could do something to help. So I picked you up and ran straight for the hills. I only had to dodge one person, I think it was the girl from ten-"

"Selah?" I asked, proud that I had managed to remember her name.

"Yeah, but she didn't attack me or anything, probably because she didn't think she could take me. I was running as fast as I could but even without you in my arms Jett probably would have caught me. I heard his footsteps behind me and his fast panting breath. He had some massive sword in his hand and I quickly put you down because I knew I wouldn't be able to outrun whoever was behind me and he just clipped my shoulder as I turned around to face him," he said quickly glancing over to his shoulder.

"_You're hurt_?" I yelled getting up a little too quickly to see how bad it was. Unfortunately, whilst the stitches may have stopped the bleeding they didn't put all the blood that I had already lost back and I had seemed to forget that I wasn't quite so strong on my feet at that very instant. Luckily Caden hadn't and he was up just as quick to brace me before I fell, which was become rather repetitive. I hated being the damsel in distress kind of character in this partnership but I suppose during this particular situation there wasn't really much I could do about it and honestly I think that Caden enjoyed playing the knight in shining armour much more than he was letting on.

"It's just a scratch," he assured me as he held me up.

"Then let me see," I said stubbornly and now that I was stable I turned him around so I could look at his shoulder. For this time at least he wasn't playing anything down, it _was_ just a scratch. I sighed in relief because the idea of _me_ having to stitch _him_ up after just going through the pain of it myself was not something I looked forward to.

"Now that that's settled," Caden said his tone annoyingly ironic, "Maybe we should sit back down so we don't hurt ourselves again."

I glared at him but did what he said and sat back down where I had been before.

"Ok so what happened after Jett scratched you with his sword," I asked calmly, trying to piece together the story.

"I managed to knock the sword out of his hands when he followed through with the swing. He stumbled to pick it back up and I managed to knock him to the ground. He grabbed the sword and swung it wildly at me and I fell as I tried to avoid it. He got back up and pointed the sword down at me but luckily I managed to trip him before he could run me through."

"How did you get away?" I asked, "I mean if he had a sword and you had to carry me you never could have outrun him."

Caden shrugged, "Someone attacked Jett from behind, I'm not sure who but I think it was a guy. With him distracted I had enough time to pick you back up again and get enough of a lead that he couldn't catch us."

"I don't understand," I said frowning, "Why would Jett try to kill you? It just doesn't make sense."

"It makes perfect sense to me." Caden said and I could practically hear the 'I told you so' in his voice, "Did you ever really think about _who_ it was that stabbed you. And _who_ she might be working with?"

No I hadn't thought about that at all but looking at it Caden was dead right. Probably not for the reason he thought, but still, he was right, Velvet, who worships the ground Jett walks on, would do absolutely anything he asked. Maybe Caden was right about him after all, maybe he just used me as some kind of decoy so he could get Caden, who let's face it was the biggest threat out there besides Angora. But who knows, maybe he was working _with_ Angora at that very moment, wondering whether I had been one of those six that had been killed in the bloodbath. But with that thought came another horrible one, what if _Jett_ had been one of those six. No matter how confused I was at the moment I didn't like that thought at all. There was a one in four chance it was him, well a little less since Bryanna the girl from nine was definitely one of the six dead, I mean no one survives getting blown to pieces like that.

"No, we made an agreement," I said trying my hardest to pretend there weren't millions of seeds of doubt in my mind at that moment, "He knew that the three of-" I stopped. There it was; the answer.

"What is it?" Caden said looking around anxiously, as though he thought I'd just seen something.

"He didn't know," I whispered to myself, almost not believing how stupid I had been.

"Know what?" Caden demanded.

"I forgot to tell him," I said looking back up, "I never got the chance to tell him that you were working with me too. He didn't know that you were trying to help me."

"And that's justification for him to try and kill us?" Caden yelled.

"No, but it is some justification for him to try and help me." I yelled back. Why was he so distrusting of Jett, you know besides the obvious attempted murder and all, but it was completely possible that that was all some kind of misunderstanding. Then again it could have just been attempted murder and part of some elaborate double crossing plan. What I wouldn't have given to know what the hell was going on.

'Why are you still _defending_ him?" Caden looked incredulous as he yelled at me.

"Because I believe everyone is innocent until they're proven guilty."

"How much more evidence to you _need_?" he exclaimed, "Will one of our deaths be enough, or will you need more proof after that?"

I lowered my head. There was no point in arguing with Caden now. For now he was the only teammate I had and he was only trying to protect me. The sun was setting and soon we would need to make some kind of sleeping arrangements. Everything would just be easier if we could at least agree to disagree and then work together.

"You're right," I sighed, "I'm sorry Caden. I know you're just looking out for us but... I _want_ to trust Jett. I do trust him...for now."

Caden frowned as he looked up at me. It was obvious he never trusted Jett in the first place and he didn't like the fact that I did.

"Fine," he spat, "But next time he stabs us in the back, and he will, he's going to the top of the hit list."

"Deal," I said with a smile and a nod.

Caden sighed a huge sigh of relief and stood up slowly. He looked around for a second before walking to the left end of the crevice.

"Where are you going?" I asked slightly confused.

He turned back around and picked up the small pack, putting one if the knives in his belt and the pack on his back.

"To see if there's anything within a twenty metre radius that we can eat. A loaf of bread and some cheese are not going to go a long way, and anyway, both of those will keep. They might be useful on a day were there is no access to any food."

I didn't like the idea of him going out on his own without any kind of back-up, but seeing as I could barely stand it probably wasn't all that smart for me to go, in fact I'd probably just slow him down even more and put him in more danger.

"Fine but take the water flask with you and fill it up," I said hesitantly, "And don't eat anything without bringing it back here for me to see first. Photographic memory, remember."

He smiled at me, "Sure," he walked back to get the flask, "I'll be ten minutes, twenty tops. Stay here, don't move and please don't do anything stupid."

I tried not to be offended by that and just assumed that he was joking, so I laughed. He looked like he was battling some kind of war inside himself as stood at the edge of the crevice looking at me, before he finally forced himself to turn around and leave.

When he was gone I felt somewhat useless. I was kind of just sitting wallowing in my own thoughts, which at the moment were not really a great place to be. I decided eventually that I needed to do _something_ worthwhile. I managed to stand up and walk slowly to the side of the crevice and look around. I noticed that surrounding the entrance to the cave was a type of grass very similar to the one that I used to weave my little water proof shelter thing in the training centre. I pulled out a whole bunch of it and resumed my seated position inside the crevice but this time I was actually doing something. I didn't know what exactly I was weaving but I didn't really care. Caden was off risking his life in the jungle with nothing but a knife to protect him just so he could get food for the two of us. The least I could do was make something to cover the opening at the top of the crevice so it would catch the water if it started to rain. Ok so it wasn't the world's greatest plan but hey, it was something.

I don't know how long I sat there weaving that stupid grass but it was definitely longer than twenty minutes and I was starting to freak out a little bit. To say I was worried about Caden would be an enormous understatement. To put it simply I am very much a glass half empty kind of girl so when things start to go wrong my crazy imagination has this way of imagining all the worst case scenarios. When he finally came back I nearly jumped up and threw my arms around him, luckily my better judgement restrained me and instead I yelled at him.

"Where the hell where you? I was freaking out here."

Caden smiled at me, "Sorry but I caught some fish and then I realised we would actually have to cook them and to do that we needed kindling and firewood."

"You caught some fish?" I said, utter amazement and bewilderment in my voice, "With what?"

He shrugged, "Some of the suture wire and a stick that I used as a rod."

"What did you use as bait?"

Caden laughed, "We _are_ in a forest. There are plenty of bugs around."

"You're kind of amazing you know that?" I said beaming at him. He blushed and took the pack off his back. From it he brought out three pretty decent sized fish and lots of firewood.

"Since I failed at making fires," I said remembering my experience in the training centre, "Why don't you build the fire and I'll gut the fish."

"Good plan," he said and he passed me the knife. I didn't recognise that knife at all.

"How many knives do we have now," I said as I began on the fist fish.

"Four," Caden said as he started making a little pile of wood.

"Where did they all come from? I had one, you had one, there was one in the pack but where did the fourth come from."

Caden hesitated for a second.

"You had two."

"Did I?"

"There was one in your hand and one in your abdomen."

Ah. That's where the fourth one came from.

We continued doing our jobs in silence until we saw the sky flash brighter and we heard the sound of the national anthem of Panem. The two of us looked at each other quickly before Caden ran over to me, helped me up and helped me to walk out of the crevice so we could see the sky. We both knew what this meant. At the end of each day during the games the faces of all the tributes that died that day are shown in the sky, so that we, the tributes, know who is left to kill. We don't get to see who killed them or how they died, just the same picture that we saw for our training scores and the number of their district. I hold my breath as the seal of Panem is in the sky, wondering whose faces will show up, and even weirder I find myself hoping that it won't be Jett, Davion or little Porter in the sky, Jett because he's my ally, Davion because he saved my life and Porter because well, I like that kid and if neither I nor my allies could win I would want it to be him.

The first face I see is Keenan's the boy from five. That means that all the careers as well as the tributes from three are still alive. I couldn't say I was all that surprised but it would have been nice if just one of the careers could have been knocked off. The next face is the little twelve year old Rylee from six. I couldn't help but feel bad for her, I mean she was so young. After her came Ryder from seven and Bryanna from nine. The last two are both the tributes from eleven, Luis and Zaria. Then the seal comes back up, the anthem finishes playing and just like that, the game is back on.

We return to our little tasks without mentioning anyone who was alive or dead. I finished gutting the fish before Caden had the fire ready, but I was a little bit worried about the smoke that was going to be produced. When I brought up the problem to Caden he looked down at the woven grass I had made and said,

"Well if we use that to cover the opening to the crevice the smoke shouldn't make a neat pillar and it'll be less obvious to spot."

He handed me the matches so that I could light the fire while he was putting the woven grass up. I knew that I couldn't waste a single match so I had to light the ifre with the first one I used. I tried to picture Jett showing me how to light the fire back at the training centre and stuck the match as far under the kindling as I could, hoping it would catch. Luckily it did and the flames enveloped the wood and started burning. I gave myself a little pat on the back and subconsciously thanked Jett for showing me how to do that. When Caden came back he cut the fish up into little cubes and suspended them over the fire with some of the wire. Eventually we had cooked all the meat and I had to say for our first meal in the arena it was actually pretty good. As we were eating Caden looked over in the general direction of the cornucopia and said,

"It's going to be one hell of a race to get up that mountain."

I frowned a little, "Why exactly do you say that."

"Well whoever gets there first not only has a massive uphill advantage on anyone who wants to attack them but they also will have an amazing view of the entire arena," he said gesturing towards the mountain, "The canopy down here isn't very thick so it doesn't conceal smoke very well and that clearing we were in before, anyone on the mountain probably would have been able to see us."

"We'll have to be more careful next time then," I said as I stuffed a chunk of fish in my mouth, "But wouldn't it take a lot of time to get to the top of that thing? And then, assuming the careers will get there first, won't they have to come down every day to hunt everyone else."

"I think the mountain looks a lot bigger than it actually is. I'd say it'd take two hours maybe to get from the bottom, to the top. As well as that, as far as we know they have at least five in their little pack. That means you can rotate who stays up top and who goes out to hunt."

Damn I forgot about that. Well perhaps that meant that if it comes down to some kind of fight we'll be less outnumbered because someone has to stay and watch over the camp.

It was pretty late by the time we finished eating and I was completely exhausted. Caden offered to take the watch for the night but I knew that no matter how much he wanted to be some kind of superhuman he couldn't stay up all night and still be fine tomorrow. Eventually I got him to agree to wake me up during the night so we could swap and so he could get some rest. He opened up his black pack that he hadn't opened before and pulled out a very warm looking sleeping bag and held it out to me.

"No way," I said, "You picked up the pack, you get to use it."

"I'll use it when I'm asleep but you can use it while you're sleeping," he said practically throwing the thing at me.

"Thank you," I said and I draped it over me, using my thick white jacket as a pillow, "Good night Caden."

"Good night," he said with a smile as I lay down and shut my eyes.

But just like before when I was trying to sleep in that giant capitol bed in the training centre as soon as my eyes were closed I couldn't get to sleep. Plus my brain was thinking up all kind of horrific scenes that could take place while I was asleep. Eventually I gave up and decided I needed some kind of distraction. I sat back up and looked over at Caden. He was still watching me and his face grew panicked as he saw me sit up.

"What's wrong?" He said shuffling in closer to me.

"I just need you to tell me something," I said trying to breathe evenly.

"What?"

"Anything. I just...I can't go to sleep. I'm... too scared... to go to sleep."

Caden smiled a sympathetic smile.

"Don't worry," he said protectively, "I won't let anything happen to you."

"It's not that I think we'll be attacked or something," I said slowly, "I'm more afraid that that knife punctured one of my internal organs and if I go to sleep I won't wake up."

"You can't think like that," he said but it was clear on his face that he was worried about the same kind of thing.

"I just do," I said giving a hopeless smile, "So please, talk to me about something to distract me."

"Ok what?"

I thought for a second.

"Tell me about her."

He frowned, "Who?"

"The girl you're in love with, who right now is in district twelve."

Caden's eyes widened for a second before coming back to slits as he averted my gaze.

"There is no girl in district twelve."

"Yes there is," I said stubbornly, "You may be good at hiding what you feel Caden but that day I saw something crack in you and I'm sure I'm right."

Caden stayed silent and still wouldn't look at me.

"Come on," I pleaded, "This could be my dying wish, just to know why you volunteered."

Still no response.

"You don't have to tell me who she is...yet. Just talk to me about her. What is she like? What does she look like? Who is she friends with? How did she feel about you? Things like that."

"You really have no idea what you're talking about." Caden said with a small bitter chuckle.

I sighed, "So I guess we're back to why did you volunteer for Flint Valentine?"

Caden remained quiet but I could feel his will shaking.

"Did you just feel sorry for him because he was young? Did you want to escape something back in twelve? You've already said you didn't want the fame or the fortune so why? Why did you agree to die for Flint Valentine?"

"Have you ever thought maybe I didn't do this for _Flint Valentine_," Caden yelled at me taking me slightly off guard, "That maybe I volunteered to save someone else?"

Now it was my turn to be stunned silent.

"That maybe I chose to risk my life for someone else?"

I had no idea what he was saying, there was only one person he had saved by volunteering and that was Flint Valentine. Unless he was agreeing with my previous theory that he did this to impress someone I had no idea where he was going with this. He stood up and walked over to the end of the crevice. I got up and leant against the wall so that I was at least close to the same height as him. He turned back around and moved in close to me looking straight into my eyes. He stood there for a few moments before he turned back around, moved a few paces back and looked down at the ground.

"I did this so I could save _you_," he whispered without meeting my eyes. For a second I thought I had heard him wrong because none of this was making sense. He hadn't saved me, I was still in the arena, "I volunteered so I could protect you, so you could get back home."

Before I could ask the question that was on my lips, which of course was 'why?', he had turned back around and was looking into my eyes, a sad smile on his lips.

"Because I couldn't stay in district twelve if you weren't there. Because I couldn't sit at home and watch you fight for your life in here. Because I could not let you die. Because I love you Eora. Because I am in love with you."


	19. Questions

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Questions

I couldn't have heard that right, could I? There was no way that the words that had supposedly just left Caden's lips were in anyway true, was there? I must have been hearing things wrong. Caden wasn't in love with me. There was no way. I mean I'd never even talked to him before all of this. I must have gone a little crazy after Velvet stabbed me, it just seemed like it was impossible to believe.

No. I wasn't hearing things at all. My hearing was perhaps one of the few things Velvet's knife didn't damage. As soon as he said it the dots all seemed to line up. The way Caden had treated me on the train, his reluctance to show any emotions or tell his story, his general friendliness towards me, the way he kissed me that day in the training centre, his over-protectiveness of me... they all seemed to make sense now. Caden was right, I had _everything_ wrong. This was nowhere near the same thing as I had guessed.

So I had got what I had wanted. Now I knew. All his secrets, all his discrete motives suddenly became clear. But this was not at all what I had wanted. I wanted a simple answer, one that would give me the answers I wanted and help me to unravel what was going on with Caden. This however only opened the door for floods of questions. When? How? And most importantly, why?

I don't know how long we sat in silence, me, lost in thought and confusion whilst Caden watched my face trying to unravel what I was thinking and how I was feeling. Eventually he spoke again.

"Eora," he pleaded his ridiculously blue eyes never leaving mine, "Please say _something_."

I couldn't think of what to say. What do I say? What would someone smart say in that kind of situation? How on earth was I supposed to respond? I'd never thought I'd have to deal with this kind of situation and I'd never really thought about Caden in anyway other than a competitor or a friend. Eventually I said the only thing I was sure I meant.

"You shouldn't have done that," I said softly, finally meeting his eyes for the first time.

He smiled a little, "What? Fallen in love with you?"

I frowned, "No. You shouldn't have volunteered for Flint Valentine. Not for me."

He averted his eyes from mine and lowered his voice, "You wouldn't get it."

"Try me."

He looked back at me, "Have you ever been in love with someone?"

I was about to say no before he quickly cut me off with, "Don't answer that. I don't want to know."

He paused for a second before continuing.

"I...I couldn't have just sat at home and watched as you fought for your life right in front of me. I wasn't going to sit and watch you die Eora. I couldn't."

"So what," I said trying to keep my voice level and not to yell at him, "You decided to come and take Flint's place so I had one less person to kill?"

"Of course not," he sighed, "I needed to help you win. So you can get back to home, back to district twelve."

"So I can live happily ever after," I said ironically, "while you're dead."

"That way one of us would be," he said the anger slowly creeping up his face, "do you think I would have been happy? Going to school, living life as normal while the games were on, knowing every single second that you could have died? That I never would have seen you again? That the last time I would set eyes on you would be when they brought you back in a wooden box? That would have tortured me, eaten me inside out and driven me mad. Trust me, the moment Rubin called your name there was no way I was even going to get a 'happily ever after.' I couldn't have lived through that Eora."

Both of us paused, neither one of us knowing what to say next. I was completely unprepared for all this.

"Caden I-" I started, not really sure how it was going to end but Caden cut me off again.

"You don't have to say anything Eora," he said kindly, "I know you don't feel the same way about me as I do about you. I mean a week ago you didn't even know my name."

That was true. It was almost unreal to think that nearly a week ago Caden had just been some nameless boy in my year. Look how far the two of us had come in that week. Crazy huh?

"Besides," he said standing up and looking away from me, "I didn't come here to make you fall in love with me. I'm here to protect you, that's all."

I still didn't know what to say. I felt like despite the fact that we had talked about it for a while, the conversation was still in exactly the same place it had been before, I was still bursting with questions. But I had a feeling I wasn't going to get any answers today.

"I'll keep watch near the entrance to the crevice," he said, obviously ending our previous conversation, "You should get some sleep while you can."

Sleep was the last thing I wanted right then. But I knew better than to argue with Caden, especially when it had something to do with my safety or well-being. Apparently I was far more tired than I had thought because the moment I lay my head down on my jacket I was fast asleep.

My dreams were an obvious reflection on the events of the day. I was lying in the clearing that Caden and I had rested in earlier that morning, the fallen leaves framing my body that lay strewn on the ground, except my wound was bleeding again and I couldn't move. I could hear voices, lots of different voices repeating my name. First came Haymitch's and Rubin's voices, the way they had said my name on that last night, full of anger at my stubborn behaviour. After them came Jett, his voice strong and humorous. Then many of the other tributes; Sylas, Angora, Velvet, Davion, all one by one repeating my name. Then finally came Caden's but in a way I'd never heard him say my name before, a light, warm whisper. However Caden's voice echoed over and over again until I finally woke up.

My eyes snapped open to see Caden's face hovering slightly over mine. His face was stern and worried at the same time as he gently pressed a finger against my lips as I was about to ask him what on earth he was doing. He silently gestured towards his ear, which I assumed meant that he wanted me to listen. I stopped moving and focused in on the sounds around me. At first all I could hear was a small rustling of leaves as a midnight breeze swept softly across the forest floor. But then just before I was about to ask Caden what it was he heard I heard it. Voices.

Caden was moving around the crevice trying to pick up whatever evidence of our stay there was around. He picked up all the packs and moved them into the corner of the crevice as well as spreading the remaining ashes from the fire so they just looked like dirt on the floor of the crevice. He took my hand and guided me into the opposite corner from the packs. The two of us sat in the shadows, Caden's arms locked protectively around me, completely silent and daring not to move as the voices became louder and clearer.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who it was coming towards out little shelter. Even before they were close enough to distinguish, the number of different voices and the amount of noise they were making as they all trudged through the forest gave them away. The career pack were the only people who could possibly be that confident of their actions to walk around the forest at night, completely oblivious to the fact that anyone else in their position would be much more quiet. My little hypothesis was confirmed when I heard Dahlia's voice, her annoyingly superior tone impossible to not identify.

"Are you sure this is where Delaine said the smoke was coming from?"

"Yep. She said she could see some smoke coming from around here and even more coming from about two miles east," said Velvet. Well at least that came as no surprise. The reference to Delaine had thrown me though, Delaine was the girl from five, what the hell was she doing with the careers?

"Well the idiot is obviously mentally deranged or something," I heard Dahlia respond, "Because there is absolutely no one around here. We've covered an entire half a mile radius and nothing."

"We never should have let that girl work with us," said an unmistakably sinister sounding voice, "I say when we get back to camp we slit her throat and eliminate the chance of any further delays."

"Well think about it this way Sylas," Velvet responded her high bell like voice sounding ever-angelic particularly in this clear forest air, "This way we can always have two people guarding the stuff on the mountain and four out hunting. Six is always going to be better than five."

"As we have just proved."

Well I could have guessed as much once I knew that all the careers had survived the bloodbath. Because everyone else ran away from the cornucopia, you know, so they didn't die, the careers who still would have been fighting got left with all the food, water, weapons and other provisions that no one was able to get. And then just like Caden had said, they got to the top of the mountain and they set up some kind of camp there so that they would have a constant watch over what was happening down on the hillside. Brilliant.

"You know," Velvet said her voice innocent and inquisitive, "We could always convince Jett to join us. I mean then we could get rid of Delaine and we'd have one of our biggest threats working for us rather than against us."

"Do you even know where he went blondie?" Dahlia retorted. Well at least she acted superior to everyone not just me.

"No I have no idea. I didn't see him at all during the bloodbath."

"My bet is," Sylas hissed, "that he's off somewhere with that little girl from twelve he's so fond of."

I was particularly proud of myself for not gasping at that very moment and silencing both Caden and I to our deaths. If the two of us got seen there was very little chance that either of us, let alone both of us, would make it out alive. Two against three aren't exactly great odds to start with but when you factor in my instability due to my injury and our general lack of weaponry compared to those of the careers, yeah we were pretty much screwed.

I heard Velvets high pitched laugh ring across the air in response to Sylas' comment.

"Oh I highly doubt that Sylas," she said with an innocent little chuckle. I made a mental note to inflict something really painful on her for that.

Sylas sighed, "That's a shame. I had so hoped to see her again."

I could practically see the wicked-slash-creepy smile on Sylas' face as he spoke. I didn't really understand why Sylas had wanted to see me but I really badly wanted to never find out. I shuddered as I imagined him finding me here and the smile that would slowly creep across his snake-like face.

Velvet laughed again, "Let's just say that wherever Eora Reagan is right now, she's not going to be there for long."

I didn't get it but apparently neither did Dahlia. When she questioned Velvet's little declaration Velvet responded with, "I think it's safe to say that we will see the face of Eora Reagan in the sky tomorrow night."

The group of careers fell silent for a moment before I heard a fourth, very deep voice amongst the crowd.

"Come on we're wasting time," Angora said. Well now we really were screwed. With Angora there was absolutely no chance of surviving if they found us, "Delaine must have just seen some fog or something. Let's just go to where Delaine saw the more obvious smoke trail and hope for her sake that she hasn't stuffed up twice in one night."

Caden and I didn't dare to move until they were so far away that we couldn't hear their voices anymore and even then we hesitated. I think the two of us were really just in shock, too scared that they might come back and we might be discovered. We sat in that corner, our arms wrapped around each other, for what seemed like hours, but in reality was maybe just fifteen minutes after the careers were gone.

I tried my hardest to regain even breathing patterns. That was nearly it. Everything could have been all over then.

"That was too close," Caden whispered, his thoughts obviously paralleling mine.

I nodded before finally getting back up and taking a deep breath.

"Well at least we know that the crevice is hard to spot."

"True."

I looked around. It was still dark out but I had a feeling that I had been sleeping for a few good hours.

"I'll take the watch now," I said handing him over the sleeping bag. He shook his head and held it out for me.

"No you still have a while left to sleep," he said his tone insistent.

"There's no point in me sleeping for an hour then waking back up but there's also no need to waste time," I said stubbornly, "I promise I'll wake you if anything happens."

He sighed and reluctantly took back the sleeping bag before walking over to where I had been sleeping and laying down on the ground.

I grabbed my jacket, put it around my shoulders and set myself up for the night.


	20. Day Two

Day Two

The sun had already risen when I awoke on the morning of that second day. Crap. I had totally fallen asleep on my watch. I couldn't remember exactly when I had fallen asleep but I was pretty sure that Caden had been lightly snoring near me for a good hour or two before my memory fades.

At the thought of Caden I quickly looked around to where he had been sleeping when I had last seen him. The sleeping bag was still there but it was empty. I scanned the area around me as fast as I could, searching for any sign of him but he was nowhere to be seen. _Shit. I've fallen asleep and now someone has come and killed him_. Mind you, I think if he had been killed the cannon shot would have woken me no matter how deep in sleep I was.

I was on the brink of going into a complete panic mode when through the morning silence I could hear someone breathing softly towards the north end of the crevice. I got up as quick as I could and lightly walked over towards the sound. When I saw Caden sitting there watching something off in the distance I let out the biggest sigh of relief. He seemed startled by the sound and turned around sharply, but the sudden alarm on his face faded when he saw me. He beamed at me before saying a warm, "Good morning."

"Why the hell are you out here," I snapped, "You nearly gave me a heart attack when I woke up and you were just gone."

He smiled lightly, "I didn't want to wake you."

"_I _was supposed to be the one trying not to wake _you_," I said shamefully, "I was on watch and I fell asleep. I'm so sorry Caden."

He shrugged his shoulders, "No one's dead. No foul."

I rolled my eyes at him, "You know that if things were in reverse you would be just about killing yourself by now. Let me be guilty for a while ok."

He laughed at me, "Sure."

I looked out towards the still rising sun across the cloudless horizon. Although it had risen past the hillside the rays of sunlight were still catching on the outstretched branches of the trees, throwing the light in all different directions and casting patches of shadow across areas of the forest floor.

"It _is_ beautiful," I said, trying my hardest not to sound wistful.

"It is," Caden said as he followed my gaze, "It's a shame we have to see it under circumstances like these. Makes it hard to appreciate how rare a sight like this actually is."

He was right. If we weren't in the arena and this wasn't the Hunger Games things would seem much nicer than they really are. This perfect sunrise, as beautiful as it was, only made me feel mad, like the capitol was throwing it in my face just to show me what I would miss out on once I was gone.

"It's really warm though," Caden said breaking the silence, "I mean its early morning, the two of us are sitting in the shade and already I feel really hot. Imagine how hot it might be when the sun is completely overhead."

He was right again. From the position of the sun I would've guessed it was seven in the morning and already I was feeling flushed and very warm. I only just realised that I had fallen asleep without any kind of blanket over me and in my singlet that I was still wearing now. Caden similarly was only wearing his loose pants and his light, black shirt. Like Caden said, if the two of us where this hot now, how hot where we going to be in the middle of the day?

I decided that as fascinating a topic as the weather was perhaps it was time to change topics.

"So what should we do today?" I asked casually. I'll admit I was quite happy to have stayed in the little crevice and waited for the rest of the tributes to kill each other off, but there were three little problems with that. First, I don't like doing nothing all day. Second, I don't like waiting for something (or someone) bad to come along. And thirdly, I really didn't want it to have to come down to Caden and me because... well just because.

Caden turned back around to look at me, "Well how do you feel?"

"Fine, why?" I asked a little confused.

"I meant physically," he said with a little sarcastic chuckle, "You know... after being stabbed."

Woops. Totally forgot about that. I looked down to where the wound was and lifted up the bottom of my shirt to examine it. It had bled a little after Caden had bandaged it but it actually didn't look that bad.

"I feel pretty good actually," I said with a smile to try and reassure Caden, "I don't feel nearly as weak as I did yesterday and I feel much more stable."

He smiled at me again, "You do seem to be standing better on your own. Perhaps we just change the bandages and then you'll be fine."

I was a little worried that perhaps we should save the bandage in case of future injury but Caden assured me we much more than we needed. Bandage wasn't the only thing we had too much of either, we had heaps of the suture wire left from the kit, and whilst Caden had been inventive and used it as fishing wire, we still needed something else to do with it.

"Why don't we use it to stitch our shirts back up?" I suggested as I looked at the relatively large hole in my singlet from where Velvet had stabbed me. Caden's shirt was also torn in several places from where he and Jett had fought. As well as that both of our shirts were drenched in blood in several places. We decided to wash them in water whilst we had such a hot day that would dry them quickly. As much as I was opposed to being almost half naked around Caden (I had underwear on for all of you with dirty minds!) it really wasn't smart to be walking around with torn, bloodstained shirts because whilst it was warm now it could get cold later and they would hardly provide warmth. Mind you it wasn't so much that _I_ was in nothing but pants and a bra, I was more uncomfortable with _him _not having a shirt on. In case I haven't already said this, Caden is really good looking, and him being shirtless, doesn't lessen the fact. In fact it is kind of a very bold reminder. Why does that make me uncomfortable I hear you ask? Well... I don't really know...stop asking questions.

While Caden was helping me change the bandages around my abdomen I noticed that he was covered in bruises and scratches. There was one large purple bruise on the front of his left shoulder that looked particularly painful and another on the right side of his face under his jaw. I lightly brushed my fingers along his jaw line, trying my hardest not to picture Jett's fist causing a bruise like that one. Caden looked up from tying my bandage and stood up at his full height, his deep blue eyes locked on mine as he looked down at me. We stayed like that for a few seconds before I quickly averted my eyes and asked,

"Doesn't that hurt?"

Caden shrugged, "Not really. I didn't even notice it until I accidentally leant my face against my hand."

I looked over his bruised torso. "Jett couldn't have done all of that could he."

Caden frowned, "Unless I ran into something really hard a couple of times, yeah, they were all Jett."

I paused, "You never really answered my question. What should we do today?"

Caden's brow furrowed in thought, "Well I guess that depends on whether or not you think we should stay here for a while or not."

I thought about it. I might have said it a few too many times but I thought this was pretty much the ideal place to set up camp. I wasn't in all that much of a hurry to leave.

"I think we should stay here for a few more nights at least."

"Agreed," he said with a nod, "But maybe we should just go out and hunt down some food because I don't know about you but I'm starting to get a little hungry."

As soon as he mentioned it I became aware of the fact that I was starving. As good as the fish we had last night was it wasn't really very filling.

And then almost as if Haymitch had been waiting for us to say the words, a silver parachute holding up a large basket fell down in front of us.

"I guess it's your turn this time," I said nodding him towards the parachute. He opened the basket and inside was lots and lots of bread rolls as well as some dried meat to go with them. In all we counted two dozen bread rolls.

"Why would he send us so much food?" Caden asked as he looked over all the bread.

"Everything's cheaper early on remember," I said perhaps a little too casually. Things like bread and dried meat were some of the cheapest sponsor gifts, weapons and survival gear was always much more expensive. However the money to buy an axe or a machete on day one may not even be enough to buy a loaf of bread near the end of the games because the prices go up as the tension does. "Maybe Haymitch wanted to send us all the food he could get whilst he had the money for it."

Caden gave a small nod to suggest that he agreed with my little theory. He was looking over the bread again. Each roll was pretty big, enough to satisfy someone for one meal at least, and we had twenty four.

"How should we divide them?" I asked.

Caden looked like he was already thinking about that. "Why don't we each take three a day? That way they should last us both for four days."

I smiled at him, "Well done partner," I said as I grabbed my first bread roll.

He smiled back, "Math was always my best subject."

I was still grinning as I took my first bite of the bread roll. It was still warm and it tasted so much lighter and fresher than the bread we ate in twelve. It tasted like the bread that we had in the capitol, like the bread they would eat in district one or two. Hold on, district one... Haymitch would be working with the mentor from one if Jett still planned to ally with me later. But surely that alliance was broken now...right? Perhaps I was wrong, perhaps the reason Haymitch sent us the bread was to hint to me that the mentor from one was still helping Haymitch, and therefore that Jett was still very much my ally. Urgh... why is everything so _complicated_? Why couldn't someone just give me a straight answer?

Once the two of us had finished eating our first bread roll we packed up the rest of the food into our packs as well as all our provisions that were scattered around the bass of the crevice. We put back on our newly stitched up and still wet shirts and made our way out of the crevice again, all our provisions in the packs and on our backs. Once I was actually completely out of the crevice for the first time I could understand why the careers hadn't noticed it and found us. From the outside the entrance just looked like uneven, loose rocks covered in some vines. I was once again amazed that Caden had managed to find the place.

"I'm not sure we'll be able to find it again if we leave," I said hesitantly.

Caden frowned for a second before slowly moving over to a small patch of white flowers a few metres from where we were standing. He grabbed a small bunch of them and scattered them over the rocks that hid the entrance to our crevice.

"There," he said with a self-satisfied look on his face, "Now as long as there's no wind we should be able to recognise the entrance, but anyone who passes by shouldn't notice anything odd."

I beamed at him, "You're a genius, you know that?"

He sighed dramatically, "I try."

The next few hours were pretty uneventful. We hadn't managed to find in game anywhere, or run into anyone else around in fact the only thing we'd really accomplished was re-filling the water bottles we had from the water in the stream near the crevice. Finally after walking for a good hour or two we came across some wild pigs, who were drinking water from the stream approximately five miles downstream.

Caden lightly pressed his finger to his lips, like he had when the careers nearly caught us, and trod as lightly as he could without alerting them.

"This is probably more for you than it is for me," he said once we were as close in as we could get without scaring off the pigs.

"What?" I hissed. There was no way I was going to be able to take down a wild pig any better than he could.

He gestured down towards the two knives that I had tucked into the side of my pants and made a throwing action. Oh, he wanted me to _throw_ the knife at them. That made more sense. The only problem was that I probably was only going to get one shot, because if I missed there was going to be a stampede. I took in a deep breath, slowly picked up the knife, picked a target and launched it into the air, quickly followed by the second knife. I thought the second one was probably a long shot but hey, better than nothing.

The first knife landed right in the neck of one of the pigs, who fell down straight away. The other knife hit the leg of another, but it wasn't quite enough to stop it. At the impact it flared up and ran like crazy, but luckily its limp made it much slower and Caden was able to catch it and quickly put it out of its misery.

Caden turned back around and smiled at me, "Nice shots."

I smiled back and went over to help him. The two pigs were pretty heavy, each weighing five-ten kilos. We didn't really need all of them, just the meat so we got as much of the meat off as we could and shoved it into the big pack that Caden had insisted on carrying.

"That won't keep for long," I said as I looked at all the meat, "Maybe a day or two if we're lucky."

"I think we should cook it later tonight," Caden said as he looked around, "When the darkness can cover the smoke and the careers have already made their switches so they can't communicate."

"Nice plan," I said but I was soon distracted by a long, thin, clear space between two rows of trees. I hadn't run since the bloodbath, for obvious reasons, but now with such a perfect track I was desperate to. I loved running, always had. It was a feeling like none other, running at speeds you never thought possible. I hadn't thought there was ever a time I wanted to just sprint as fast as I could as much as I did at that moment.

Caden followed my gaze, a worried expression on his face. "What's wrong?"

I sighed, "Nothing. I just really want to run, but I'm not sure I can."

Caden looked down the expanse, "Go ahead. You might as well try. I'll follow you, though I doubt I'll be anywhere near you."

He was right. I should test my parameters just so I know for later whether I can count on outrunning an opponent. I braced myself then quickly launched myself down the little track. I felt stronger than I had since getting into the arena and much freer. I was probably running at ninety percent of my absolute fastest speed, but hey, a little delay can only be expected after being stabbed. I quickly came to the end of the clearway but I didn't stop. I kept going, weaving in and out of trees and jumping over fallen leaves and branches. I didn't think I'd ever really stop but I was quickly brought to a complete and sudden stop by a sound. A cannon firing.

I did a complete one-eighty and looked towards where Caden had been. He wasn't behind me and I was about to start high-tailing it back the way I came when he came around the corner, his face panicked and distressed. However I imagine my face relaxed as much as his did when we saw each other. Knowing that it wasn't Caden who was dead made the cannon shot actually represent something good.

"Seven down," Caden said once he reached me, a slight puff in his breath.

"Fifteen to go," I replied as I wondered who it was that had just been killed.

Now that I was stopped my body caught up to me. All the strength that I had had whilst running was completely drained and I was left feeling weaker than I had all day. As well as this Caden and I had been spot on, now that it was nearly ten in the morning it was hotter than I ever could have imagined. I could feel sweat forming along my brow and the heat slowly creeping up my body. So I did what anyone would do in my situation. I walked over to the creek and lay day in it. Caden looked at me for a while a humoured but puzzled look on his face before he finally shrugged his shoulders and did the same thing. The cool water felt amazing as it slowly spread across my skin and I couldn't help letting out a satisfied little 'ah' as I began to feel cool and relaxed.

As peaceful as I felt I could feel something deep inside my stomach, like something wasn't quite right. I focused in all my senses and suddenly I could hear something, only very lightly, like it was coming from a very long way away. But it was high pitched and resonant, and it only took me a minute to finally identify what it was. Screams.

I sat up quickly and pulled Caden up with me.

"What is it?" he whispered as he looked around anxiously, his hand already at the knife in his belt.

"Listen," I said quietly before pausing to let him hear. He frowned in concentration before he heard them.

"Is that someone screaming?" he asked, jumping to his feet at the same time.

I gave a small nod. "What should we do? Do we run, or do we head straight towards it?"

"Are you crazy?" He yelled at me with that incredulous look in his eyes again, "Run _towards _someone screaming! I can see why that makes _perfect_ sense." He grabbed my forearm and started pulling me in the other direction, "No way. We are going in the complete opposite direction."

I pulled my arm away, "We have to go see what's going on," I pleaded, "We don't actually have to do anything we just need to see what's happening."

Caden looked away from me, the anger in his face plain to see. Through the anger I could see he was having one of those battles inside himself.

"Fine," he spat, "But I swear to god if it's the career pack we run into..." he didn't finish the sentence but I got the point.

We walked quickly and quietly towards whoever it was that was screaming, both of us too nervous to take our hands off our knives. With every step the screaming became louder and clearer and by the time we were within half a kilometre of its origin I was pretty sure I knew who it was that was screaming. There was no one else here whose voice would be able to hit a note that high pitched and make it sound absolutely heart wrenching. Is it weird that I'd never actually heard Serenity talk but I could identify her scream?

Sure enough I was right. Once Caden and I were close enough I could see her. She was caught up in a giant woven net that had been used as a snare and somehow she had ended up suspended in it in the air. Her gorgeous white blonde hair was tangled all around her face and she was screaming as loud as she could as she struggled to get herself free. I was about to walk out into the open when Caden quickly grabbed me and pulled me back. I was about to start yelling when he mouthed a word. Trap.

I looked back at the net that had ensnared little Serenity from three. He was right again; someone had obviously laid that there to trap someone. But then to use that someone as bait to catch someone else, that was too low. As I looked over the intricacy of the snare I knew exactly who it was that laid it there. The only person smart enough, or cruel enough, to be able to catch a human being in a net and use them as bait, Sylas. I could almost see the creepy little sickening smile that would creep across his face when he came back to check on his trap and found his prize. It almost made me want to throw up. I shook Caden off and walked out into the open. I heard him groan but soon enough I could hear his footsteps behind me as I walked towards Serenity.

When she saw me she gasped, her eyes widened in fear and she began to struggle even more than she had been doing before. I wasn't really sure what exactly I was going to do until I reached the net. Would I help her? Ask her questions? Maybe just put her out of her misery? But as soon as I was close enough to see her tiny body in such a feeble position my resolve cracked. I was never going to kill her. She was so small, so innocent. Just like I had with Flint Valentine when I had first seen him, I knew I would never be able to kill Serenity. I quickly drew out my knife, which caused Serenity to whimper, and began to cut the ropes. Caden watched me with a concerned look on his face but didn't start to help me.

"She's a person Caden," I said pathetically, not looking away from my hands, "She doesn't deserve to die like this. No one does."

Caden continued to watch me for a few more seconds, a tender smile on his face, before he pulled out his knife and began to help me. Within five minutes the two of us had made a big enough hole that Serenity could fall out the bottom of the net and onto the ground. She looked up at us, her big eyes watery and her pale cheek streaked with tears. She didn't really look like she knew how to react. After a few seconds she gave us a small nod and then ran surprisingly fast into the forest and out of our sight.

And then almost simultaneously I heard another cannon fire.


	21. Confusion

**Oh my god can you believe it's been almost three weeks since I last updated? I honestly don't know what happened to all the time and why this took so long! Sorry for the delays guys I promise the next chapter will be up faster than this one was...well I'll try.**

**xx C**

Confusion

Caden and I looked at each other and I was pretty sure that the shocked/distressed expression on his face perfectly mirrored mine.

"You don't think..." I started, my voice soft and unbelieving, "That couldn't have been her right? I mean we didn't just risk our lives to save her and then have her killed within seconds."

"I'm not sure," he said while looking around anxiously, "but I think we should get out of here."

I looked over to the spot where Serenity had disappeared from our vision before I turned back to Caden and gave a small nod.

The rest of the day progressed without anything substantial happening. We didn't here anymore cannon shots nor did we see anyone else around the arena. Though we continued to look around for anything edible we didn't travel outside an approximate ten mile radius, so it's hardly surprising that we didn't run into any other tributes, given how _huge_ this bloody arena is. Just as the sun was beginning to set and Caden and I were heading back in the general direction of the crevice the foliage around us became much thicker. As I was scanning the forest floor lightly my eyes caught on one particular thicket of large, dark leaved plants. Caden was almost about to tred on them when I quickly called out to him.

"Stop!" I said perhaps a little too loud because Caden suddenly looked like he was about to step on a landmine.

"What?" he yelled back as he looked around quickly without moving his lower body an inch.

"_Brassica oleracea var. acephala_" I said gesturing towards the plants at his feet.

He looked at me like I was speaking a completely different language, "In English please Miss photographic memory."

I smiled and rolled my eyes at the same time, "Its common name is Kale."

He shook his head lightly, "No still doesn't ring a bell."

"It's kind of like cabbage," I said as I leant down to start collecting some of the Kale, "Not only is it edible but it's thought of being highly nutritious."

Caden followed my lead and began pulling out as much Kale as he could, "And it will keep," he gave me a warm smile, "Good thing you went to that edible plants station after all."

I smiled back. I liked this. I mean yes, we were in the Hunger Games, yes, this was a horrible situation to be put into and yes by the end of the next couple of weeks either Caden or I or both of us could be dead but...I liked this. I liked just being around Caden and walking and talking. It felt warm, natural. I have to admit once he...you know... confessed his love for me or whatever, I thought that things would be weird but I couldn't have been more wrong. Caden seemed to have just pretended that he had never told me and wasn't treating me any differently to how he did before, nor I him. I honestly didn't think that there was anyone else I would like to spend my potentially final days with more than him.

By the time we had reached the crevice again, which by the way was pleasantly easy to spot thanks to Caden's little flower plan, we had my small pack full with not only the Kale but with a few other different types of edible plants, roots and berries that I had been able to identify, full water flasks and all the meat from the two wild pigs that we had killed earlier this morning. Once we were back we laid out all the food in a long line.

"Not bad for two kids from a mining district, hey?" Caden said, his tone a mixture of pride and content.

"I doubt even Angora could have done any better in our situation." I said, trying to sound serious but not able to hide the smile creeping up my face.

"I doubt she could have," Caden said with a little chuckle, "So what should we do with all this?"

I frowned a little in concentration as I looked over our haul. "Well we both have a roll left for today right?" We had both eaten one this morning and this afternoon when we got really hungry.

"Right," he agreed with a little nod.

"So we can eat those plain. We should probably boil all the greens and roots."

"Agreed," he said with a small smile, "I'm not a cabbage fan as it is, I don't think I could stomach it raw."

A pert smile crept up my face, "It's not cabbage, its kale."

He rolled his eyes, "Tomato, tomato," he said pronouncing the word differently each time he said it.

I ignored him, "I think we should wait until it's completely dark to cook the meat."

"Definitely," he said all humour erased from his expression, "I personally don't want another experience like last night's."

"Agreed," I said, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up at the memory of Sylas' words, '_that's a shame. I had so hoped to see her again.' _I tried my hardest to completely erase the memory from my thought, "I don't think there's much we can do with the berries."

"Maybe we just use them to get rid of the taste of cabbage," he said that cheeky/cute smile on his face again.

"A. Its kale," I said grinning back, "and B. Quit complaining, this is a feast considering the circumstances."

He widened his eyes and made an extremely innocent face, "I'm sorry."

I glared at him playfully before handing him the box of matches, "You need to start the fire to boil the water. I've long since given up on fires."

He politely concealed a chuckle as he worked on building the fire as I filled the pot with water and rationed out how much food each of us would need and how much we would want for later. Caden had the fire up and going in no time and soon enough I had the pot ready. Ever heard of that expression, 'a watched pot never boils' well it's uncannily correct. I swear that that pot took longer to boil than any I had ever boiled in my entire life. It wasn't even ready when the sun had set and all of a sudden the anthem of Panem started booming overhead. The two of us quickly looked at each other before rushing out to look at the seal in the sky.

I felt surprisingly anxious whilst looking up at that seal waiting for the first face to appear. There had only been two cannon shots, two deaths, today. That meant eight down, one third of all the original tributes dead within two days. That may sound like a lot but normally more than that die in the bloodbath alone. I hated this part, the waiting to see which ones of us were dead part. The first face to flash up was the boy from three, Knox. On the plus side, Jett was still alive, despite everything that still made me feel relieved, on the down side, so were Velvet, Tripp and Dahlia. The second face was Delaine, the girl from five who had teamed up with the careers. Well I suppose that they had followed through on their threat to take her out for her negligence. After that the anthem finished, the seal came back in the sky and then the sky was clear again.

After a few moments of silence Caden spoke.

"Do you think it was them," he said hesitantly, "you know, the careers? Do you think they were the ones who killed Delaine?"

I sighed, "You heard them," I said as I turned around and headed back towards the food, "I think the real question is was it Sylas or Dahlia who did it?"

Caden almost smiled at my crude joke, "You never know, it could have been Angora. She definitely would have been able to finish the job the fastest."

I frowned a little, "I dunno... From everything I've seen about them all it seems kind of like Sylas is the puppeteer and Angora is just his huge, muscular puppet. I doubt she'd do anything without Sylas' instruction and I doubt he'd give up the chance to kill anyone."

"True," Caden said a pained look on his face as he probably pictured a similar image to the one that was in my head, Sylas snapping Delaine's neck.

By the time we had come back from outside the water and the greens in the pot had finally boiled. I poured all the greens out and started cutting up the meat so it would cook quicker. I didn't really have a strategy for cooking the meat, I just kind of used some wire to hold it up above the flame and left it there while we ate the greens.

I really didn't want to show it, because I had already given Caden some crap for complaining about the food, but he was right, the kale really didn't taste great. I tried to make my face look like I was actually enjoying the food but I really had to work to keep down each mouthful. It had this weird, bitter taste that I couldn't quite decide how to deal with. Caden was obviously enjoying it as much as I did because at one point he looked up and I could almost hear the sarcasm dripping off his words as he said "Yum." I glared at him for a second and continued to look at him as a took another mouthful and acted self satisfied, despite the fact I felt disgusting.

Once we had both finished all the greens the meat was only a few minutes away from being cooked. I decided perhaps Caden's idea for the berries wasn't such a bad one after all.

"Here," I said as I threw him a few berries, "For the taste."

Caden did his best to hide a smile, "Thankyou."

The berries definitely did the job of covering the taste of the greens. They were so sweet and ripe that the bitter taste from the kale was completely erased by the time we went to eat the meat. It felt so good to have some meat in my system again and once I was done eating I felt fuller and more energised than I had in days. Unfortunately, it was night time, and unless one was stupid enough to go out and take on six-I mean five- careers, we couldn't leave the crevice. After a few minutes of sitting in a daydream induced silence Caden decided to perk up.

"Tell me something," he said livelily.

"What do you want to know?" I asked with an amused tone, however I couldn't shake this feeling of déjà vu.

"I don't know," he said with a little shrug, "Tell me something I don't know about you."

"Fine," I said, "But only if you tell me something as well."

"Sure."

My brow furrowed as I tried to think back to home in district twelve, which seemed so far away now. After a while I let out a huge sigh.

"This is too hard," I said, exasperated, "I need you to narrow down the field."

"Ok fine," he said rolling his eyes ever so slightly, "Hmmm...let me think... What is your favourite...subject?"

I paused for a second. I hated when people asked me that. I didn't really have a favourite subject. I had subjects I was good at and subjects I wasn't good at, but none that I particularly favoured over others.

"I like...history," I said with slowly, "Not really recent history, but more dark days history or even pre-dark days or pre-Panem history."

Caden smiled, "You and my sister would have enjoyed talking very much. History was always her favourite subject too though she shared almost the exact same viewpoint as you."

I smiled, "Well I already know what your favourite subject is."

"You do?" he said his tone surprisingly cheerful.

"You already told me before. It's maths."

"I told you math was my best subject," he corrected, "That doesn't mean it's my favourite."

"Well what is then?" I inquired.

"Biology," he said matter-of-factly.

I groaned. I hated biology. But then a completely random thought appeared in my head.

"I know something you don't know about me," I said with a playful smile, "When I was little I used to imagine that I could fly. It seemed cool to me."

He laughed, "That's a good one. When I was little I used to complain to my dad, telling him that I never wanted to be a miner. That I wanted to do something else with my life."

"When I was little I wanted to work with the baker," I confessed with a chuckle, "I always like the idea of working with food."

"My favourite colour is yellow," he said as he put a large, purple berry in his mouth.

"Mine's blue."

"What kind of blue," he inquired lightly, "Sky blue, baby blue?" This game had turned more into a, who knows less about the other person kind of thing. I had a feeling I was going to lose.

_Blue like the colour of your eyes_, I wanted to say but I managed to refrain myself. "Dark blue."

"Like the colour of the water in the lake in the forest?" He asked quickly averted his gaze.

How did he know about that lake? I shouldn't have even know about it, since it was illegal to cross the fence that surrounded district 12 but that's where my step-father took me to teach me how to swim.

"Yeah I suppose so," I answered slowly, since that wasn't really the same colour but I didn't want to push the issue.

"Adara once caught a really small frog from that lake," he continued, "She took it home and treated it like a pet." He frowned and glared with the memory, "I hated that frog."

"I once had a pet cat named Lily but she drowned."

"I'm really not an animal person in general."

"Do you remember my friend Trinity?" I asked.

Caden frowned, "Dark hair, pale skin, freckles, glasses?"

"Yep that's the one," I said while laughing at his extremely general description, "Before we were friends we used to absolutely despise each other. She pushed me over in the playground all the time and I used to trip her over in the corridor. I think eventually we admired each other's tactics and decided we were a strong combination as allies."

"I remember that," Caden said sticking another berry in his mouth. "I have a brother."

"I knew that," I said trying to defend my ignorance of his family. In all honesty I only found out yesterday when we were talking about it, but what he didn't know didn't hurt him.

"I know. I was going to say that his name is Brennan. He's nine years old and you would never guess that he was in anyway related to me." He smiled loosely, "He and Adara, my sister, look like my dad, but I look just like-"

"Your mum," I butted in. I remembered seeing her the day she came to wish me good luck in the justice building and how much she had looked like her son, "I look a lot like Raine, we have the same facial features, but Dori looks just like her father. If they didn't act exactly the same, you'd never guess that the two of them were twins." I felt a little 'pang' deep in my heart once I had thought of my baby sisters but it was good to think of them now.

"I sometimes wished I looked more like my siblings," Caden admitted, "Actually I think I just wanted to be more like them in general. The two of them are generally better people than I am." He paused, "I guess that's really more of a confession."

I stood up and faced away from him. Since the two of us were confessing things I thought I had one that would trump anything he had.

"I can't really remember my dad," I said softly facing the wall of rock behind me, "I mean I can picture him, but only because we have a picture of him at home. And I remember what my mother told me about him but I can't remember him ever talking to me, or holding me. And the honest truth is..." I took a deep breath, "I don't miss him. I can't remember him ever being around so I don't feel his absence."

Caden stood up as well and was looking down at the ground.

"You know you're friend Elodie," Caden said softly.

I frowned a little but still didn't turn to look at him, "Yeah?"

"I was her boyfriend," he barely whispered, "For like a week or two."

This time I did turn around, I spun on my heels doing a complete one-eighty, so that I could look into his eyes, but he was still looking at the ground.

"What?" I said completely confused. Elodie was one of my closer friends at school. There was no way that she had dated Caden, or anyone for that matter, and I hadn't known about it.

"Yeah," he said with a small shrug of his shoulders, "She told me she liked me and thought I was cute and then she asked me to be her boyfriend and... I said yes."

"Why?" I said and as soon as I said it I realised how awful that sounded. I mean, why shouldn't Caden have wanted to go out with Elodie, she was one of the prettiest girls in our year and by far one of the nicest. But then there was that small problem, you know, of Caden being in love with _me_ or whatever. I realised how little I actually knew about Caden's feelings for me and made a mental note to deal with that later.

He looked up and gave me a small smile, "I dunno... I guess I just thought...that maybe, if I went out with your friend, you would notice me," his eyes didn't leave mine even when mine wavered and he took a small step towards me.

"Oh," I barely whispered and looked down at my toes. That made more sense.

"But you didn't even know," he said quietly, stepping in towards me again, "And after a week or two I decided it wasn't fair on Elodie so I ended it."

I didn't respond, I didn't quite know what to say, I just kept my gaze down towards my toes so I didn't have to look up into Caden's gorgeous blue eyes that were unwaveringly focused on me.

"I so wanted to tell you," he breathed as he stepped towards me again, the distance between us completely gone now, my face only centimetres away from his. Somehow I thought he wasn't talking about Elodie anymore, "But I didn't know how to say it."

I slowly lifted my head up so that I was looking up at him, his eyes looking down into mine an unnameable emotion hidden in them. Something between adoration, guilt, hesitation and dare I say it...love. Like he was about to do something he shouldn't but his better judgement was being overridden by undeniable desire and passion.

I knew what was about to happen, I could feel it deep in my core and my mind was telling me to snap out of whatever was happening to me and to run for the hills but my body stayed fixed in place. Caden's head slowly leaned down and I was amazed to find myself slowly leaning up onto my toes so that my lips could meet his. Caden's hand went to the small of my back so he could pull me in and close the miniscule gap between us and kissed me.

This kiss wasn't like the other one we'd shared. That one had been a desperate, passionate crack in Caden's resolute wall of willpower. This kiss was softer, gentler but in no way less heartfelt and passionate then the one before. One of Caden's hands was holding me against him and the other was gently entwined in my hair, whilst mine were around his neck so that I could stay up at his height. As our open lips lightly pressed against each other's I could feel this tightness in my stomach and a light-headedness overcoming me. What was I doing? Caden had kissed me and I was kissing him back?

But my body wasn't listening to my mind anymore. A feeling I couldn't describe was taking control of me then and it didn't want to stop kissing Caden. His feelings obviously seemed to mirror mine because with each kiss his desperation grew and the tenderness started to fade, in its place a raw, hollow passionate feeling emerged. The hand that was in my hair moved down the side of my leg and pulled my body in closer to his, as did my arms around his neck.

_What the hell are you doing Eora? _I could hear myself thinking and I knew I should have been listening. This wasn't fair. Caden was in love with me and it wasn't fair to kiss him like this when I didn't feel...when I wasn't sure how I felt.

I half-heartedly tried to pull away but Caden's strong arms around me kept my body pressed against his, and he could sense that in essence I didn't really want to pull away so he continued to kiss me. The intensity of the kiss grew until I found myself genuinely struggling for breath but for some reason I wouldn't stop kissing him.

Then all of a sudden he wasn't there anymore. He had pulled away from me so quickly and sharply that I had almost fallen over from leaning against him. He had backed so far away from me that he was almost against the far wall. The emotions in his face were so varying they were unreadable. He looked shocked and confused and disgusted with himself and in complete ecstasy all at the same time. The two of us couldn't quite look at each other, our gazes slightly off centre, mine at the ground and his left of me. The air was completely silent, the only sound the sound of ragged breathing coming from the two of us.

"I shouldn't have done that," he said quietly as he looked down at the ground in front of him, 'I'm sorry."

And before I even had a chance to spit out syllable he had turned towards the north entrance of the crevice and had walked out into the crisp night air.

_Eora Reagan, you are a complete, utter, idiot._

**Well? I hope that was worth the wait guys. Sorry again.**


	22. Day Three

**I am the absolute queen of all the procrastinators I know. How is it possible it has taken me this long to update? I'm sorry everyone this is just one of those chapters I didn't already have in my head planned out so I didn't have the inspiration to write it. Seriously if I keep taking this long to update some of you are definitely allowed to just yell at me to hurry up and hopefully that will give me the kick in the ass I need.**

**Just so everyone knows this chapter and the one after it I wrote all as one chapter but then decided that 8000 words was a little hefty for one chapter so I chopped it in half. I just really knew what I needed to put in this chapter and I knew exactly where I wanted it to finish so it had to be long.**

**Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Day 3

_What the hell did you just do?_

My head was absolutely reeling with questions but I didn't have an answer to a single one. I tried my hardest to block out the questions surrounding me but I couldn't. Eventually my whole mind kind of went blank and tired, frustrated and confused I found myself drifting off into sleep.

I awoke with a start in the middle of the night to a ridiculously loud and unnatural noise. For a few seconds I was confused and unaware of my surroundings before everything became clear again.

_You're in the hunger games Eora. You are fighting for your life against what is now 15 other people. You're in a crevice, on a hillside that rings a large imposing mountain. That sound...was a cannon._

A cannon! Before I could stop myself I was up and out of the sleeping bag and had rushed outside to make sure Caden was still alive. Unfortunately he was doing the same thing and coming to check on me so the two us nearly completely collided as we both rushed in opposite directions. I imagine the look of relief on his face at seeing me alive and well was pretty much mirrored on mine as I took in the image of him. I had to look away from his eyes as another memory dawned on me.

_He kissed you last night you idiot. And you kissed him back._

I quickly began to ramble to avoid the conversation that was obviously going to occur at some point, which was probably going to involve something along the lines of, "So what did that mean?" To which I had absolutely no answer.

"I might as well take watch now," I said awkwardly, "You should get some sleep."

"Ok," he said with a friendly smile that made my heart melt...bad choice of metaphor...made my...made my...oh I don't know I liked the way he smiled at me ok! Good enough for you? "Try to keep your eyes open this time though." He gave me a coy smile and I knew he didn't actually blame me for falling asleep on my last watch but that didn't make me feel any less bad about it than I already did. I glared at him playfully as he went in to go to sleep, before sitting down against one of the large rocks concealing the entrance to the crevice.

I decided that since my thoughts were not exactly the nicest place to spend a good few hours I would spend my time watching, and noticing, everything. I took note of the shape of the grass, the way the trees bent when the wind pressed against them, the way that the leaves on the ground moved, an entire world hidden beneath them. When a troubling question threatened to invade this serene environment I had created for myself I focused in even harder, forcing myself to notice things I hadn't noticed before. Somehow time seemed to pass much quicker this way and before I knew it the sun was crawling its way along the horizon, the mountain casting shadows across the forest floor around me. It was much cooler than it had been yesterday, and from what I could remember the trees seemed to be barer and there were more leaves on the ground than there had been when I had fallen asleep. I considered whether I should wake Caden or not, but since we didn't really have anything to do today I decided he might as well sleep for as long as he could.

By the time he woke up the sun had completely risen and I could see fingers of light creeping over the mountain peak above me. I had taken the brilliant initiative to boil some of the kale we had left over, trust me there was plenty of it, and I had to stifle a laugh when Caden awoke to the sight of boiled kale. I wished I had had a camera and could have taken a picture of the look of absolute revulsion on his face as he took the breakfast feast I had prepared.

"Kale," he said the name so it sounded like a dirty word, "Yum."

"I'm sorry your highness but we were all out of diamonds for you to eat today," I said mockingly as I stirred as I started dividing the food into two.

He yawned before saying, "oh ha ha," and sat down to eat. He delayed eating the kale and went straight for one of the bread rolls that Haymitch had sent us yesterday.

"I did add some of the meat in the water that I boiled the kale in," I said as I followed his example and tore off a piece of my bread role, "I've never made stew before so I'm not sure how it'll taste but hey, we need some protein in our diet, what with all the strenuous exercise we've been doing."

"Ha," he laughed with his mouth full of bread, "I know right. When you watch the games on TV at home it seems like the tributes are always doing something, always running, always hunting, always fighting, but you and I haven't really done anything since we got in here."

"That's not true," I said with a playful smile, "We survived the bloodbath, found a shelter," I paused, "well both of those were really you but never mind, we dodged an attack from the careers, took down to wild pigs and saved a little girl from certain death. That's a lot for only two days."

"When you say it like that it is," he said as he took a small hesitant mouthful of kale, before cringing as he swallowed it, "But we've had more than forty-eight hours in here and we haven't really done anything substantial."

"Again not true. We were...hindered...by a few minor events, including stabbings and what not, as well as potential attacks from careers. But we've gathered food and we've talked and we've laughed and we've..." _kissed..._I didn't add on that last point, and was just about to start verbally abusing myself for even bringing it up before Caden picked up the end of the sentence.

"Yeah but we could have done all that stuff at home," he said laughing, seeming oblivious, or ignoring, the obvious point I was going to make at the end of that previous sentence, "We haven't done anything to...you know...change the game or whatever."

"And I'm glad," I said with a content smile, "The less effort I have to use to win this thing the better. For all I care the careers can knock off everyone else, and the each other, before I have to even lift up a finger to intervene."

Caden beamed at me, "You really think you can win," he said with a hint of admiration in his voice.

I laughed, "Of course. I think you and I have as good a chance as anyone else in this arena to win. I mean you scored the highest score in individual training, if either of us is going to make it home it's you."

His face fell a little, "I wouldn't sell yourself short."

I snickered, "I made it to day three, not without help," I smiled at him and he smile back shyly, "but I made it anyway. Trust me that is considerably better than I ever would have imagined doing."

He finished his last mouthful of kale and made a quick dive to the bag of berries to get rid of the taste of the bitter greens. Once the two of us had eaten a few of the berries and had each had a drink from our water flasks Caden looked over to me.

"Ok day three. What are we going to do today?"

I shrugged, "Same old same old I suppose. Go outside and see what happens."

He laughed, "Always good to have a plan."

And as interesting as it sounds, that's pretty much what we did. Once we had packed up everything into our three packs we headed out of the crevice just like we had yesterday. Caden scattered some more white flowers around the rocks surrounding the caves so we would know where the crevice was when we came back.

We ventured further out into the hillside this time, and I made it my own personal task to remember every inch of this hillside in case we needed to make a sudden run for it at some point. As adventurous as we were both feeling we were in no way brave enough to venture off the ridge of hills and into the valley that surrounded the mountain. It was far too open and way too easy for us to be spotted by the careers sitting on top of their mountain keeping watch below. Besides, I didn't know about Caden but I had absolutely no desire to go onto that mountain. My reasons were threefold. Firstly, I was pretty sure that most of the action was taking place on the mountain and as unarmed as I was I did not want to be anywhere near it. Second I didn't mind this hillside, it was quiet and sheltered and it was very easy to see and hear when someone was near you. And thirdly, possibly my strongest point, was that every day Sylas and Angora passed through that mountain and it was firmest belief that wherever those two were I should hopefully be the complete opposite end of the arena from them.

As happy as I was about being alive and stuff, I had to agree with Caden, we hadn't really done anything yet. I itched to really do something, like take out a career maybe, but I felt that at this point in the game Caden and I really didn't have a chance. We didn't have the skill, we didn't have the numbers and we didn't have the weaponry to take on anyone else, especially not the careers.

So we walked. We walked out around the hillside with no real purpose or goal. It would have driven me absolutely mad if Caden hadn't been there, talking to me when he sensed something was bothering me or smiling and laughing when I did something stupid like walking into a tree. I then of course did the mature thing and threw some of the water from my flask at him in retaliation. The water fight that ensued was hardly smart, as not only were we drenched head to toe at the end but my girlish squeals would have alerted anyone around as to our whereabouts, but it was fun none the less. And besides, we had walked past at least half a dozen streams or ponds so there was definitely no lack of water.

What Caden didn't seem to get that one of the things that was frustrating me even more that doing absolutely nothing all day was him. His cheerful and friendly disposition infuriated me, and not because I'm a terrible person just because it made me even more confused then I already was. It was almost like he had completely forgotten that anything had happened last night, or that he was just trying to pretend that nothing had happened. How was that even possible when I was so completely and utterly confused by it all? I almost felt like grabbing him and slapping him then screaming, "_We kissed! It happened!_" But then of course actions like that had connotations and I really didn't want to have to explain myself. I just couldn't stand it that he was laughing and smiling and telling jokes just like he had yesterday, when everything was simple and uncomplicated, when my entire world seemed to have shifted and yesterday seemed like years ago.

When did I become so annoying? I swear I never used to nag and whine in my own head like I was doing then. I made a little promise to myself to stop complaining and to simply deal with it, and not to be irritated by things that were not at all irritable, like Caden being nice.

So at the end of the day what had we achieved? I had taken down a rabbit and some kind of small fox with my knives and Caden had managed to catch a few fish in one of the brooks we had stopped to rest at. Our stash of berries was replenished, however we didn't run into any more kale, a fact I think Caden was all too happy about. We did manage to find some other edible plant roots that I identified as safe that we could use on a really hungry day if need be, however I nearly had a slight breakdown when Caden was about to pick out some of the roots from a plant near him with bright purple flowers. It took me little less than a second to realise what that plant was and less than a second to quickly scream "Stop!"

Caden froze where he was, about to put the plant in the back pack. He looked around with a concerned expression on his face, but there was a slight humour in the light of his eyes.

"What?" he asked, barely moving an inch, "Am I about to step on something we can eat like last time you screamed at me?"

"Caden," I said breathing heavily, "Put. That. Plant. Down. Now."

The humour left Caden's eyes and the plant fell immediately from his grasp, the violet coloured petals of the flowers crumpling as they hit the floor. Caden stepped back from the plant like it would attack him or something.

"What is it?" he asked cautiously, his eyes still not leaving the plant.

"Aconitum."

He looked up at me and I could almost see the unspoken words in his eyes,_ "In English please."_

"Aconite?"

He shook his head.

"Monkshood?"

"Nope."

"Wolfsbane?" When he shook his head again and looked at me with a hopeless expression I sighed, 'Come on you'd have had to have heard of one of them."

"Nope," a small smile crept up his face, "What are they?"

"They're all the same thing," I said whilst rolling my eyes, "That plant at your feet."

"Is there a reason I had to drop the...whatever it's called, or did you just want to freak me out?"

"Oh ha ha," I sneered, "Fine by all means put it back in the pack if you enjoy nausea, vomiting and a burning feeling in your mouth and abdomen. Oh and then there's of course death after five or six hours."

Caden looked back down at the purple flowered plant dubiously and then took another step back from it. He looked back up at me.

"I'm assuming I would have had to have eaten it for all that to happen right?" he said hesitantly, "I mean, that doesn't all happen just from touching it, does it?"

I smiled, "Luckily for you no. I only yelled because I thought you intended to cook it later."

He looked down and blushed a little, "I did. I thought maybe it could help mask the flavour of the kale."

I laughed warmly at his innocent suggestion that probably, if not for me, would have seen him dead. Is it wrong that I liked that? Well I guess we were a little closer to being even now, he had basically brought me back from the dead and I had just stopped him from going there. I'll admit we weren't quite even yet, and I still owed him more than I could possibly ever repay, but it felt good to finally not be the damsel in distress all the time.

"It probably would have," I said once I finished laughing, "But I think eating kale and living versus not having to taste the kale and dying, the first is probably favourable."

He gave me an impish grin, "It's a close call but I agree with you."

After that he made sure to check with me every time he went to pick something just to make sure he wasn't getting something poisonous, which I'll admit made me feel smart and authoritative.

We managed to reach the crevice just before the sun set that afternoon. It was considerably colder by the time we had got back, so much so that I put my huge white jumper on just in case. The air was cold and crisp and a light breeze had picked up so once again I was so glad to have the shelter of the crevice over our heads. I knew soon we'd have to leave

As soon as we were sheltered we went to work on cooking some of the meat we had caught today. We agreed that we should probably cook the pigs meat from yesterday first and save some of the fresher meat for tomorrow so it wouldn't start to smell and rot. I could hear it starting to rain outside by the time we had the fire going and the meat cooking. Great. Nothing better than sleeping outside in the rain. Although at the time I had thought it was stupid, the grass I had woven actually was a godsend. Quite literally not a drop of water entered through the opening of the crevice, which, thank heaven, kept the fire going and the meat dry. Well we might not have achieved anything substantial today but I had had two of my own little private achievements.

The food was almost cooked when I heard the sound of the anthem of Panem booming from outside. Caden looked at me and I at him.

"You go watch the sky," he said tilting his head towards the opening of the crevice, "I'll watch the food."

"Are you sure?" I asked hesitantly, I knew that for me at least, seeing who was alive and who was dead was pretty important, I'm not quite sure why, it just was.

"Yeah, you go," he said with a warm smile, "I mean not much happened today anyway."

As I walked out to check the sky I thought about what he just said. He was right, nothing much had happened today at all, in fact I didn't remember hearing a cannon shot at all today. Oh, hang on, I had woken to one. But apart from the one in the middle of the night there hadn't been any deaths. That wasn't good. No action means that the people in the capitol start to get upset and as soon as the viewers even whisper about losing interest the gamemakers will act to liven things up.

I tried my best to stay out of the rain as I waited for the face to flash up in the sky. It felt like forever before it did. It was the boy from eight, Bo I think his name was. His face only stayed in the sky for a few seconds but looking up at him something was nagging at me. His was the ninth face I'd seen up there but I couldn't shake this feeling deep in my gut, I didn't even know what is was. After that the seal of Panem came back on, the anthem finished and the sky was clear again.


	23. Answers

Answers

I stayed staring at the sky for a few moments. What was it about that boy? I hadn't even talked to him once, not in the training centre, not at any of the events before the games started. Why did I feel...like this? I tried to connect the dots when it hit me. No I hadn't talked to him but I had had an encounter with him. At the bloodbath he attacked me and I...what did I do...I stabbed him in the arm with my knife. Could that have been what did it? Could the wound I inflicted on him have been the cause of his death?

I turned around slowly, walked back to the fire and sat down, my knew to my chest and my arms around my knees. I didn't feel like I could say anything, not to Caden, not to anyone.

Caden waited for me to speak, his face growing more concerned as he started to understand that I wasn't feeling great.

"Who was it?" he asked lightly, his eyes meeting mine, filled with concern and worry.

I tried to make his name form on my lips but I couldn't. I didn't feel like speaking.

"Eora," his voice was a little more panicked as he took in my distress, "Whose face did you see?"

I looked up into his eyes and tried my hardest to blink away the tears that were forming in mine. I would not cry in front of the whole country, and not to mention the reaction Caden would have if I started bawling my eyes out over someone I had never met.

"It was the boy from eight," I barely whispered, "Bo."

Caden face furrowed in confusion, "I- I assumed when I saw your reaction that..." he trailed off as he frowned and narrowed his eyes.

"That what?" I asked looking back up at him.

"Nothing," he said a little too quickly, "Why are you so upset."

I battled over whether to tell him or not. It was stupid really, that I was this moved by the _possibility_ that I was responsible for the death of an eighteen year old boy.

"It's nothing," I stammered trying my hardest not to look at him because I knew that if my eyes locked on his my resolve would shatter and he would easily wear my down.

He tilted his head slightly and a small smile came across his lips, "It's not nothing."

I sighed and gave in. He was my only ally at this point and I should trust him enough to tell him stupid things like this.

"It's just," I started, not quite sure what to say, "When we were in the bloodbath, before Velvet stabbed me, Bo attacked me. He was bigger than I was, he basically just tackled me to the ground, but he was unarmed and I had a knife. So I stabbed him in the arm and when he was distracted by the pain I made a run for it."

"Ok?" Caden said looking a little confused.

"So, what it it's my fault?" I yelled, still fighting back the tears, "What if that's what killed him?"

He smiled at me caringly and took my hand in his, "Eora, you survived being stabbed in the stomach, do really think he would have died from being stabbed in the arm?"

"I know that," I breathed so quietly I wasn't even sure he heard me, "But what if say...he uses a sword like you, and because I hurt him he couldn't wield it properly? What if the injury I gave him was a major factor in his death?"

"I think it's much more likely that he had a run in with careers and they outnumbered him than it is that your injury held him down," he tilted my chin with his fingers so that my eyes met him, "I know your trying your hardest to stay away from all the action, but at the end of the day this is a game of survival. People are going to have to die. You're going to have to kill people. It's not right. It isn't fair. It is just the way things are."

I took a deep breath, "You're right. How is it that you're always right?"

He pretend to think really hard, "Hmmm let me think...because I'm ridiculously intelligent?"

I laughed and he acted hurt, "If you say so."

He smiled at me and I felt that same tightness in my stomach and that feeling of not being able to breathe. Why did that happen?

"Come on," he said sitting back down next to the pot of greens and the fire the meat was cooking on, "The food's basically ready."

I sat back down by the fire and tried to stay warm. The temperature was dropping really fast, which was weird considering it was so bloody hot yesterday. Despite the danger of having a fire I was really glad for its warmth and for the cooked meat, and anyway, the rain would make it hard for the careers to see the smoke.

It was good to be eating a lot of meat rather than greens for a change, although I did coerce Caden into boiling some kale despite his constant protesting because whether he liked it or not it was actually doing us some good to eat the greens.

As we were eating Caden started talking again, "So who is left?"

I frowned, "Pardon?"

"Who is still left alive? We've counted nine deaths so there has to be thirteen people left not including the two of us."

I tried to remember who else was left, "Well all the careers," I figured that was a good start.

"Yeah. And Serenity from three obviously."

"And I think the guy from six, Donavon, was still alive, same as the girl Aylin from seven."

"Scarface from nine is still alive I think, same as both from ten."

I nodded, "Davion, Porter and Selah. How many is that?"

He looked into the distance for a second, "Twelve. Who are we missing?"

I made a mental picture of everyone sitting on the stage for the interviews before they all started and went down the line mentally saying 'alive' or 'dead' and waited till I passed one that we hadn't mentioned.

"Kaia," I exclaimed.

Caden looked surprised and confused at the same time, "Who is that?"

"The girl from eight. I think she's still alive." I smiled as I remembered her eavesdropping on mine and Jett's conversations and then again in her horribly frilly pink gown she wore for her interview, that completely didn't complete her seriously pale skin and dark hair. I think from memory she was around the same age as me, maybe a little younger.

"Yeah I think your right," he sighed, "We have a lot of work to do and I have a feeling this might go for a while."

I groaned in agreement. In three days only nine people had been killed. We were averaging only three people a day. At that rate we would be done in another five days, but the only problem was that the rate seemed to be dying. Only one person had died today and only two the day before. Caden was right, this was moving way too slowly and not enough people were dying fast enough, it was hard to believe the gamemakers hadn't intervened yet.

Once we finished our meal Caden clapped his hands in satisfaction and I raised one eyebrow and smiled at his strange reaction.

"My mother would be proud of my amazing domestic capabilities." he said with a small chuckle that slowly faded before he added, "If she could ever forgive me."

"Do you think she will?" I asked lightly, I knew this was a tough subject.

I could see the pain in his eyes as he looked down and said, "I hope so."

"Did she know?" I asked although I kind of already knew the answer, I mean his mother had come to see me in the justice building and she had said she didn't understand why Caden had volunteered. But maybe she did know that he...had feelings for me, and she just didn't connect the dots. Caden seemed to understand what I was saying.

"That I was in love with you?" He said with a small laugh, "No. No one did."

I kept my eyes down and tried to make it look like I was doing something worthwhile so I didn't explode with questions again.

He gave a small exasperated sigh, "I guess everyone knows now."

"You can't just say that!" I yelled before quickly reigning myself back in again. Woops, there's the explosion.

He face was a mixture of amusement, confusion and shock all at the same time.

"That everyone knows..." he trailed off not quite understanding my meaning.

I made a despairing face and sighed, "No not that...its just...I mean...you can't just," I tried to search for the right words, "You can't just say something as major as 'I'm in love with you,' in a side comment like that. No matter how much you try to downplay it I'm still going to have questions and I'm still going to want to know more about it."

He paused for a second and just as he was about to speak I cut him off again.

"And don't say that I wouldn't understand it," I looked back up at him as I yelled, "or that it doesn't matter. Because it does matter to me and I want to understand it." I took a deep breath, "So please just tell me."

He still looked like he found my breakdown funny but he raised one eyebrow in questioning.

"I'm a little confused," he said with a half smile, "What is it that you're actually asking me."

I realised I hadn't actually asked a question yet. Woops. I had so many it was hard to pick just one to start with, who knows how long he was going to be willing to talk for.

I looked around nervously, "Well...why don't we start with when, and how and why?"

He laughed, "That's three questions not one."

"Yeah well they're all kind of linked together."

He sighed and sat down against the huge rock wall of the crevice.

"Well I guess the when did I fall in you question is probably the best to start with," he said taking a deep breath, "And the answer would be over a relatively long period of time."

I glared at him and he seemed to understand what I was trying to say and he sighed again.

"I probably started noticing you when I was about twelve years old," he said, quite deliberately not making eye contact with me, "My friends and I were sitting and talking at school one day and we decided to play a game where we would pick out girls and decided if they were pretty or not."

Ok. That was normal enough.

"We had picked out maybe three or four girls when my friend Cormac pointed you out. I'd never seen you before but you were sitting with a bunch of your friends and just as I looked over at you all of you burst out laughing. I couldn't quite believe I'd never noticed you before. I was the first one to declare you were the prettiest out of all the girls we'd seen so far and they all agreed," he said a small blush coming to both of our cheeks.

"After that you seemed to be everywhere I looked. You would sit directly in my line of vision in class, I'd see you walking to school in front of me, I even saw you playing out on the street with some of your friends all the time and yet I still didn't know your name. I hadn't asked my friends when we had played our game and I didn't want to ask them later. One day, probably a good six months later, I was walking home from school with my sister and you were walking in front of us. When you had turned off to go to your house I asked her if she knew what your name was. She told me your name was Eora and then scolded me for not knowing the names of everyone in my year," he looked up and smiled a little, "Adara enjoyed criticising me for anything. I asked her if she knew how you had got that scar on your shoulder and Adara, as an extremely blunt person, had told me straight away that your father had died in a fire saving you and your mother and that you had been burnt."

He looked up to check that I was ok with the whole trip down memory lane thing. People seriously had to stop doing that. Every time someone even mentioned my dad they all looked at me like I would burst into tears. He died thirteen years ago; I was used to people talking about him.

"I couldn't believe that. You were always so happy, smiling and laughing and playing with your friends. I couldn't believe that your dad had been killed and you were coping so well. I guess at first I admired you more than I loved you."

There it was again, that annoying way he just cast aside the fact that he had said he loved me like it was nothing.

"It seemed you were everywhere and one day, when my dad had taken me and my sister out to the lake to swim I saw you and your step dad doing the same thing. The two of you were laughing and smiling as you swam around and I ached to come and join you just so I could be as happy as the two of you were."

Ah, that's how he knew about that lake. Apparently my step father wasn't the only one who crossed the fence to teach his child how to swim.

"A couple of days later at school two boys in the year above us were picking on a girl in the year below us. They had scattered all her belongings around her on the floor and were pushing her and making fun of her."

I stopped and tried to remember an incident like this. I did remember it actually. Oh.

"Some other kids had formed a little circle around them but no one had stepped in to intervene, they were all too scared. I was sitting far enough away that I wasn't really watching but then I heard a voice say something like, 'Some kind of problem?' I recognised your voice and quickly rushed over to see what was going on. You had stepped out right in the middle of the circle and had placed yourself between the little girl and the two boys who were both considerably bigger than you. They looked hesitantly at each other, I don't think they were used to being challenged, especially not by a girl. You said something along the lines of, 'Two older boys against one little girl? Wow you two are _really_ brave.' The crowd around you laughed and the two boys quickly began to blush and took a step back but you didn't stop, 'If you wanted to play with her doll so badly you should have just asked.' The crowd around you was howling with laughter at that point and the two boys looked too shocked to respond. They quickly ran as far away as possible and you bent down to help the little girl get all her things and helped her up."

It was hard to believe he remembered that incident so vividly. I had just wanted to help that little girl, and I was actually frightened half to death whilst doing it but the way he said it made me sound like I was really brave.

"When you and the little girl walked away from the rest of us I stood among the crowd in complete awe of you like everyone else. I noticed you doing all sorts of nice things for other people around school after that, like walking some of the younger kids home."

Crap. I thought nobody else knew about that. That was at a time in my life where I was my most sentimental and pathetic, my mother had just died as well as my step father and when I had seen a kindergartener crying waiting for his big brother to come get him and walk him home I felt bad for him and walked him home instead. I know, I'm a sap.

"One day my friend Mason caught me looking at you but he didn't catch the meaning. He followed my gaze and then turned back to me and said:"

'I know right, about Eora, that sucks.'

"I didn't have a clue what he was talking about so I asked him. He barely whispered the response into my ear saying, 'Her step dad died, so did her mum, only a week or two ago' I could barely believe it. I mean your dad had already died, it sounded so unreal that it was hard to believe. My whole heart had sunk and I felt terrible, I couldn't explain it. 'So where is she living' I asked him in as low a voice as he had used, 'With her uncle I hear, but between you and me I wouldn't want to spend much time with that man, he's horrible.'"

I nodded in slight agreement, though the knowledge that a majority of the student body talked about me when I wasn't around was a little confronting, so was the fact they knew such intimate details of my life.

"I looked back over at you but you didn't look upset. You were still smiling with your friends but there was the most subtle change and I could see something behind your eyes, like you were only smiling to convince everyone, even yourself, that you were ok."

Damn it. How was that so obvious? I had stared at myself in the mirror for hours on end and practiced laughing and smiling so that people wouldn't see how ridiculously torn up I was inside. Guess it didn't work, well not on everyone anyway.

He took a deep breath and lowered his voice, "The day I figured out I was in love with you was when I was thirteen and nothing much had really happened. I was walking alone down a corridor on my way to class after lunch when I ran into someone and they fell to the floor. Their books and paper had been sprawled all over the corridor and although I was running late I thought I should probably help. I bent down and picked up some of the books from the floor before standing up and looking down at who it was I'd knocked over."

Ten guesses who it was, even though I didn't remember anything like this, I was pretty sure it was me he had run into.

"When I looked down into your eyes I nearly started screaming at myself for being so clumsy. I mean how could I have knocked _you_ over? I slurred and mumbled apologies and tried not to look you in the eye. 'It's ok it was my fault anyway,' you said as you quickly flattened out the crinkles in your shirt and brushed some of the dust off yourself. When you looked up and took the books out of my hands you smiled the most gorgeous smile at me and said a quick, "Thanks," before darting off to class. I didn't move at all, just turned around and watched as you disappeared out of my sight. And even when I got to class I couldn't get the way you had looked at me out of my head and...I kind of just knew."

I didn't really know what to say. His description of how he fell in love with me made me sound like a much better person than I actually was and I didn't know how to respond. I mean just look at me, possibly the nicest guy in the whole world had watched me and fallen in love with me and I hadn't even noticed. The person he had just described did _not_ exist, I was considerably more flawed than she was.

He gave a nervous laugh, "Plus it didn't help that the more you grew up the more gorgeous you got."

I blushed and looked down at my toes. No one had ever called me gorgeous in my whole life; well actually Caden had already called me both stunning and beautiful when he saw me in my chariot and interview outfits. How blind was I?

I thought maybe I should say something, "And didn't you ever consider telling me?"

The smile that came across his face was both sympathetic and hopeless, "I wanted to, I just didn't know what to say," his face fell, "Besides, I thought I had all the time in the world."

I shut up again. I really wasn't good in awkward situations like this one.

"Eora," he said hesitantly. I looked up, "You know when I asked you if you'd ever been in love with someone?"

I frowned a little in confusion, "Yeah?"

"Well...I lied. I really do want to know whether you have or not."

I smiled a little, "No." I said plainly, "Guess I didn't have time."

He sighed a little sigh of relief, but I could see something behind his eyes that I couldn't name, but it felt sad.

I knew I couldn't tell him what he wanted to hear because I didn't know how I felt and I wasn't sure about much anymore. But there was one thing I was sure of.

"You're not going to die for me Caden," I firmly and I stood up for extra emphasis, "I won't let you."

He had that same smile on his face again, "Eora you don't underst-" he started but I cut him off.

"I know, I know I don't understand," I said rolling my eyes, "Just promise me one thing."

He frowned, "That depends on what it is."

"If I die first," I said trying to keep my breathing easy, it was never easy to talk about one's own death, "you have to promise me you'll try and win."

I could see the pain in his face as he considered that idea.

"Eora-" He didn't look like he knew how to word the emotions he was feeling.

"Don't 'Eora' me," I said a little too harshly, "It would be better for everyone, you, your family, not to mention all the people of district twelve who would get packages and presents from the capitol if they had a victor. And Haymitch would get off mentor duties, everyone wins."

"Except you!" he yelled and I could hear the fury in his voice.

"I would already be dead," I yelled back, "I would not be affected in the slightest," I paused, "Please Caden."

He glared at me and then turned away, but I could see him waging one of those internal battles inside his head. He took a deep breath and steadied himself.

"How about rather than a promise," he said as he turned back around to look at me, "We make this a deal."

"Ok," I said uncertainly, "What do you want?"

"I will agree to try and win if you die before me if you promise not to act like you did on the first day when we stopped in the clearing."

I paused and frowned for a second, trying to remember what I had done. Oh...that was the time I had a slightly suicidal moment and tried to convince Caden it would be a good thing for me to die.

"So if I promise not to go suicidal you will promise not to do so after I'm dead?" I asked trying my hardest to keep my face serious, and failing.

He smiled a little as well at my _amazing_ wording skills.

"Basically yeah," he said and he extended his hand out to me.

"Deal," I said shaking his hand and beaming at me.

"Deal," he returned my smile with one of his own before letting go of my hand.

"Now that that's all settled," I said softly clapping my hands together, "I'll take first watch."

"No you won't," he said quickly, "You've been up since really early this morning. I'll take first watch."

"No way," I said stubbornly, "You've had first watch both nights. I'll do it tonight then you can do it tomorrow if you insist."

He frowned and looked like he was about to argue but I silenced him with a glance.

"Fine," he said grumpily, "But make sure you wake me."

"I promise," I said with a little smile, "Goodnight Caden."

He grinned at me, "Goodnight Eora."

I walked over to the edge of the crevice and set up for my watch. When did it get this cold? The air was crisp, it was pouring with rain and I was freezing. I was unbelievably glad for my massive white jumper because I imagine I would have caught pneumonia or something without it. Once again nothing seemed to happen on my watch, and I almost considered suggesting that we don't even have one, but then I remembered that we had nearly become meat for the careers on that first night. I wasn't quite sure how long I was supposed to watch before I let Caden take the watch but I figured that once the moon was in the dead centre of the sky it was as good a point at any to wake him. When I went into the crevice to wake Caden he was stirring in his sleep and tossing and turning. He looked like he was having some kind of nightmare and I worried about waking him. I knelt down beside him and shook him gently whilst whispering his name. I had to do it a few times because he seemed trapped in the dream he was having but eventually my stirring must have woken him. He sat up with a start and his eyes shot open. He grabbed onto my forearm and as he looked at me I could see no recognition in his eyes. He was breathing really heavily and I could see a few beads of sweat running down his cheek, which was weird because it was freezing.

"Caden," I whispered trying my hardest to keep the concern from my voice.

"Eora?" he stammered and then I saw it hit him and he quickly released my arm and shuffled back a few paces. "Sorry."

I smiled, "Bad dream?"

He got up out of the sleeping bag, "Yeah you could say that."

"Well nothing happened on my watch just in case you were wondering."

"That's good," he said finally completely regaining his composure, his breathing returning to normal, "You should get some sleep."

I took his advice and snuggled up into the sleeping bag, which was still warm from Caden's body heat. In a few minutes the warmth had me able to feel all my fingers and toes again, which was a nice change. It didn't take me long to drift into sleep though, I mean I had been up for around twenty-four hours, so it wasn't exactly hard. I was so tired I don't think I dreamt about anything either, which isn't that weird I guess.

I woke to the feeling of soft fingers gently brushing against my cheek and a delicate hand brushing one of my unruly wisps of light brown hair from my face.

"Caden," I heard myself softly murmur without opening my eyes, and if I had been more awake I would have thrown a hand over my mouth and dropped my jaw for saying something like that.

I heard someone stifle a laugh.

"Not quite," a recognisably smug voice whispered into my ear causing me to sit up with a start. My eyes locked with his immediately and I shuffled back out of his reach. His blonde hair was looking uncharacteristically messy and his big brown eyes were alight ad he smiled at me with that annoying, humoured-slash-cocky smile that he loved so much.

"Jett." I choked out, and I felt my heart race from the fear.

* * *

**Ok everyone that was my ridiculously long chapter. Hope you liked it! I know not much has been happening action wise but I promise things will pick up soon.**

**Xx C**


	24. Defences

**Hello all my lovely readers! Well at least this one didn't take **_**too **_**long. It would have been up earlier but I was very busy this week so you can blame all my friends for not leaving me alone long enough to write. I know this chapter isn't as long as some of my previous ones were but I got several PMs from people who were having slight breakdowns after the end of the last chapter so I thought I should get this up ASAP. Hope you Enjoy!**

**Xx C**

Defences

I stumbled backwards quickly, still not standing up, just managing to push myself backwards so I was up against the wall. Where the hell did he come from? He pulls a runner and disappears off my radar as well as that of the careers as well, that is according to their conversation two nights ago, and then somehow manages to randomly show up in front of me? And just acts like people vaporise out of thin air all the time, that was _so_ Jett. In the extremely panicked and paranoid state that I was in my senses heightened and I was suddenly completely aware of the state he was in. He looked uncharacteristically messy with dirt through his hair and some smeared across his face. His arms were covered in bruises and his black t-shirt and his big black jacket that he was wearing were stained with blood in many places. I could see a few scratches and cuts on his face but apart from that he looked basically undamaged. Even as scared as I was of him in that moment I couldn't help wondering how someone could still look so damn good when they were bruised and covered with dirt and blood. I kept myself pressed up against the wall behind me, too afraid to go any closer to him, he had _a lot _of explaining to do before I came anywhere near him. He couldn't stop himself from smiling as he looked at the terrified expression on my face.

"What, no hug?" he said innocently, stifling a laugh, "Admit it, you missed me." He wasn't standing either, probably because he had been creepily sitting and watching over me before I woke up, but he inched closer towards me and as soon as I saw him move I grabbed the knife at my waist and held it up instinctively and protectively in front of me.

His face was shocked and surprised as he took in my fiery expression and the knife I held.

"Whoa," he sounded impressed, put still held his hands up as a peace signal "Honestly I didn't think you had it in you."

I looked hesitantly down at the knife in my hand. It had been more of a reflexive kind of instinct rather than a rational decision but I suppose my fight or flight response was slowly edging further towards fight.

"I'm not gonna lie, neither did I but hey," I said cautiously, "What are you doing here Jett?"

He smiled impishly at me, "We _are_ allies. Doesn't that suggest actually meeting up at some point?"

"We _were _allies," I said putting emphasis on the 'were' just to stress my point, which made him wince slightly, "That was on day one. But a lot has changed since then."

"Like what?" he raised an eyebrow wickedly and smiled a devious grin at me that was ridiculously infectious and I had to fight so bloody hard to stop myself from smiling along with him. This was no time for humour, this was serious.

"Oh I don't know, let me think..." even I could hear the sarcasm dripping off my words, "We got thrown into an arena, your girlfriend stabbed me and you attacked my friend who was carrying me to safet-"I cut off mud sentence quickly as a thought practically slapped me in the face.

Where was Caden?

I looked around in a sudden panic but he was nowhere to be seen, not in the crevice or watching outside either of the entrances. My breathing picked up as I kept turning around looking for him and Jett seemed to pick up on my slight hysteria.

"What is it?" he said looking around nervously.

I turned back and glared at him, holding the knife in my much steadier than I had been before.

"Where is Caden?" I demanded quickly, trying not to sound as desperate to see him as I felt, and failing.

"Six feet under," he said nonchalantly.

_No._

My whole heart sank and I felt the agony of utter despair crash over me. Caden _couldn't _be dead. He just...couldn't. It wasn't possible. I would have heard the cannon. I would have heard him fighting, he would have called for my help-I could have helped him. I felt the misery eat at my heart, like I wanted to let it have me so I never had to face another day alone, like I would be miserable for the rest of my life.

My anguish must have been echoed on my face because Jett suddenly looked guilty and apologetic.

"Whoa I-I was kidding," he said as he took in my despair and he looked kind of stunned at my reaction.

Relief flooded over me. Caden was alive. The pain in me disappeared as fast as it had formed and it was replaced by an overwhelming joy and delight, but at the same time I could feel the nagging thought pressing in at my brain. That feeling of complete melancholy was not a good sign, it meant that I cared about Caden much more than I should, much more than I could bear. If just the thought of him dying hurt me that badly, how could I possibly let him die for me to win? And just next to those thought was an underlying anger at Jett's cruel joke, as well as one unanswered question.

I held the knife out further towards him, "Well then _where is he_?"

Jett flinched as the knife came closer to him and he quickly shuffled backwards away from it, like it would bite him or something.

"He went to get some water like five minutes ago," he said with a small smile creeping up his face, "he'll probably be back soon."

I looked at Jett dubiously, "He better, or I swear to god..." I figured the threat required no specific description considering I was holding a knife in front of me.

Jett laughed and rolled his eyes, "You wish."

A rare silence filled the air as we took in each other's surprising presence, I was surprised he was here, and he was surprised I was threatening his with a knife. Jett's face softened for a second before he spoke.

"Are you ok?" he asked lightly taking a small movement towards me as if to show that he came in peace.

I had no idea what he was saying so I raised my eyebrow in question.

"That," he said gesturing towards my stab wound, "Is it ok?"

I snorted, "Oh yeah that," I said the venom in my words very clear to hear, "Yeah you can thank your girlfriend for that."

He glowered at me, "Ok A. She's _not_ my girlfriend. And B. I wasn't asking how you got it I was asking if you were still in pain?"

"No I'm fine," I said maliciously, "No thanks to you."

"I'm just a little confused. What _exactly_ are you accusing me of?" he yelled, "Just let me have it so you can get it out of your system and I know what exactly I'm supposed to defend."

"Oh _come on_ Jett." I said mockingly, "First your girlfriend stabs me and then you attack Caden. After that we hear Velvet talking with all her little career friends about how she specifically was sure I'd be dead by day two and how anxious she was to team up with you. Even you have to admit that sounds bad."

"_She is not my girlfriend_!" he shouted so loud I stumbled back in shock a little. He took a deep breath to, realising he had had a minor breakdown, and regained his composure.

"Well she's your district partner," I said firmly, but not a strongly as I had before because I'll admit it, Jett was a little scary when he was angry and knife or no knife I doubt I could take him for real, "Not to mention she worships the bloody ground you walk on."

"So what?" he shouted, "That doesn't mean I give a crap about her."

"Well it does mean that she would do absolutely anything you asked her, like oh I don't know; stab an unsuspecting girl from district twelve."

"So you're not just accusing me of being a career, but of setting up possibly the most well laid out double cross ever planned?" I could hear the sarcasm.

"Kind of yeah," I said ignoring his annoying condescending tone.

"So if I'm this much of a genius, why did I use my amazing strategy to knock out two district twelve tributes, no offence, but wouldn't I have used it on, I dunno, a career maybe?"

"Offence taken," I said acting hurt, "Well maybe because Caden scored the highest score in the entire competition."

Jett pretended to be deep in thought, "So let me see...not only am I an extremely devious, double crossing genius but I'm also psychic because we agreed to be allies _before_ the training scores came out..."

Oops. Ok so my argument has one hole.

"So then why did you attack Caden when he was helping me?" I said my volume increasing slightly.

"Because I didn't know he was helping you!" he yelled back, the anger quite obvious on his face, "I had no clue what was going on."

"I tried to tell you," I yelled, "But you didn't give me a chance, remember?"

"Oh, that thing you needed to tell me," he groaned.

"Yep. That was it," I said sternly, "That still isn't a good enough reason for you to just attack someone you know."

"Well what would you have done? I saw Velvet stab you and I quickly pushed away the girl who was trying to attack me and ran towards you. But I crossed Dahlia on the way and had to stop and fight her off me and by the time I had managed to get away from her you were gone. I searched around for you and I saw him running away with you in his arms. I thought-" he paused as if he was looking for the right words to say, "I dunno what I thought but there were a whole lot of really bad situations running through my head so I ran after him to go get you myself because I was pretty sure I could have saved you."

He paused to catch his breath and though I thought it was probably a great place to add some comment but I had none.

"I had managed to get this sword," he looked like he was about to grab it and show it to me but there was no way I was going to let him anywhere near me with that sword, even if my fear was wavering a little. I quickly jerked the knife back up, noticing that it had slowly fallen to being down beside me as I began to doubt my double crossing theory, and said a quick, "oh no you don't." He put his hands back where I could see them so as not to freak me out.

"Like I was saying I had this sword so I thought I would be able to take him out pretty easily, but I seriously underestimated Caden so I was completely unprepared when he was actually beating me. As soon as he had the chance he had picked you up and was literally running for the hills, I was going to chase him again but that kid from eleven, the boy you know..." he stopped and looked for a name.

"Luis," I filled in.

"Yeah, he attacked me from behind with nothing more than a knife." He snorted as though that was some kind of insult, "I tripped him as soon as he was near enough, picked up the sword and ran him through-"

"Wait," I cut him off in the middle of the sentence, "You killed him."

"Yeah," he said shrugging his shoulders, "He was going to have to die at some point, why not then. Why haven't you killed anyone yet?"

"No," I said defensively, "I've been focusing on keeping myself alive rather than killing other people."

He considered it for a second, "Fair enough. Anyway by the time I had finished him off I had lost Caden. I followed him into the trees but I had no idea which direction he had gone in. I must have gone the complete other direction because I was camped a pretty long way away from here that first night. So each day I just looked around for you, unsuccessfully I might add, and managed to catch myself some food. I even searched the mountain cause it felt I had checked the entire hillside, I know I hadn't but it felt like it and I wanted a change of scenery before I completely lost it from the boredom. Then this morning I found you." He took a deep breath and smiled warmly.

"How did you find me?" I asked, not because I was suspicious or anything more that I just didn't want the careers to find us the same way.

He shrugged, "I was just walking and I saw Caden's tracks, he must have been hunting or something, and followed them to the edge of this...what are we calling this?"

"A crevice," I said rolling my eyes.

"To the crevice. So I waited outside hidden by some rocks until he left, assuming that you were around somewhere. He disappeared behind the rocks for a few seconds and it took me a while to realise there was a shelter hidden amongst them, but the he came back with two large water flasks and ran off quickly so I decided to come in and see what was around," he smiled devilishly, "and here you are."

I frowned for a while and considered his argument.

"Ok." I said as dropped the knife to my side.

"Ok?"

"Ok I believe you and I admit it was half my fault for not telling you."

He smiled his ridiculously mischievous-slash-cute smile at me.

"Really?"

"No I'm kidding, I want you dead and Caden's actually standing behind you with a sword," I said rolling my eyes, "You need to start believing things when I say them straight away."

He laughed, "Ok."

I looked around the crevice, waiting anxiously for Caden to come back, half because I was still afraid he was dead and half because I knew he was going to be _really_ mad when he saw Jett here.

"So what have you been doing?" I asked Jett since it was probably better if I knew sooner rather than later what he had been up to.

"Nothing much, finding food, dodging careers, like I said I climbed the mountain but the careers had already set up camp up on the summit."

"I knew that."

He looked puzzled and humoured at the same time, "How?"

"We had a minor run in with the careers on the first night." I said bluntly.

"Seriously?" he sounded both alarmed and impressed, "What happened?"

"Well maybe run in was the wrong term," I said thinking about it, "I was sleeping down here and Caden was keeping watch when they came crashing through the bloody jungle and stopped to talk basically right outside. We heard their entire conversation. That's what I was saying before about Velvet thinking I'd be dead by yesterday. Oh that and she was looking for you." I winked at him playfully and he snorted.

"No I wouldn't want to work with the careers," he said with a shudder, "Sylas scares me too much."

"Sylas scares you but Angora doesn't?" I said with a smile.

Jett's brow furrowed in concentration, "Nah, I mean don't get me wrong Angora is strong and I suppose in a normal fist fight I'd want to be against Sylas rather than Angora, but it's just something about him, somehow I just know that anyone who teams up with him will wake up with their throat cut."

"True," I nodded, "I do think he is the brains of the duo, even if that brain is a little twisted."

"Oh I think it is so much more than a _little_ twisted," he said with a chuckle.

"Hey Jett," I said a random memory popping up in my brain, "When you saw the career camp was Delaine, the girl from five, there?"

"Yeah she was when I first got there," he said concealing a small smile, liking he was hiding a secret.

"Did you see which one of the careers killed her?"

"Careers?" he said with a frown, "She was working with the careers."

"Yeah but we heard Sylas and Dahlia saying they should have just killed her and saved himself the time after she directed them to our camp from the smoke the fire was making and they couldn't find us," I said remembering how horribly close they got that night, "So I just assumed it was one of those two who killed her."

"No it wasn't one of the careers," he said casually, "That was me."

I was stunned. That was so not what I expected. I mean, I knew that Jett was a real threat in this game but for some reason I wasn't really prepared for the fact that Jett had single-handedly killed almost a quarter of all the people who had died do far. I guess it was actually kind of weird that both Caden and I hadn't killed anyone by day four.

"You killed Delaine," it wasn't a question; I just kind of needed to hear the words out loud.

"Yeah, I wanted to take some of the careers' supplies so that they had less of an upper hand but both Delaine and Tripp were guarding their camp. I took Delaine out from behind with one quick, I'll admit messy, slash, I'm not great with a sword," he waved the comment off like it was totally normal, "But Tripp had a walkie talkie or some kind of communication device and I wasn't sure how far away the rest of the careers were so I couldn't risk fighting him off. I did manage to grab their tent pack and some of their dehydrated food though."

"That's good," I said with less enthusiasm then I probably should have used. I gust of wind blew through the crevice and completely chilled me to my bones. I suddenly realised how cold it actually was, I was freezing.

"What is with this weather?" I asked, not really expecting an answer, but I got one.

Jett frowned, "I thought you'd have figured it out by now."

"Figured what out?" I asked confused.

"The arena's weather pattern," he obviously.

"There's a pattern?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes, "Think about it, the first day was cool, the grass was green, the air was clear everything was perfect. Then the second day it got really hot and muggy. The next day was still warm but by the end of the day it was starting to get cold before it poured with rain. Then today it is absolutely freezing and the entire arena is covered with snow."

"It is?" I kind of wanted to get up to go see the snow but it was kind of cold and I was comfy in the sleeping bag.

"Yes that's what happens when rain freezes," he said in a condescending tone, "Do you see the pattern?"

"No."

"I'll dumb it down for you, cool, hot, warm, cold, cool, hot, warm, cold, pattern familiar?"

"Nope," I felt like a massive idiot because his tone made me feel like it was just _so_ obvious and I just did not get it at all.

He rolled his eyes and groaned, "Cool, hot, warm ,cold, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, the arena is seasonal. Every day is a different season."

"Ohhhh," I said finally understanding. He was right and once again I felt like a complete dipshit. How did I not see that?

He laughed as he saw the understanding dawn on my face.

"It's a good thing _I'm_ the devious, double-crossing genius because you don't have the brains for it," he said cheekily.

"Ha ha, don't patronise me or I'll make you leave."

"Aww come on," he said batting his eyelashes at me and smiling innocently, "You know you missed me deep down."

I snorted and then a huge devious smile spread across my lips as I had a blissful thought.

"What is it?" Jett asked looking amused.

"I was just thinking," I said with an impish grin at him, "That when Caden gets back he's gonna kick your ass. And I'm going to let him."

**Well? How are we feeling? YAY Jett's back or NO I HATE THAT GUY! Any feeling on the chapter feel free to review :) I apologise deeply but I'm going away for a little while so I might not be able to write for like a week or two but I promise to update as soon as I can.**

**Ps. I know some of you really don't like Jett which got me wondering, are there any other characters that you like/dislike, want to see stick around or want to get killed off really soon? I know I haven't really developed many of the characters but a couple are going to become more important as the story progresses (can you guess who?) So if anyone has a favourite character or a character they can't stand or even someone whose name you just can't stand and you want them killed off for it please review or PM so I can know. Alright bye bye for now everyone!**


	25. Showdown

Showdown

I was trying to hide it from Jett as best I could but Caden's prolonged absence was making me extremely restless. And why shouldn't it, he was my...friend I had every right to be worried about him. Not to mention the guy saved my life, which seriously shapes ones opinions of a person, and with my ridiculously over active imagination I couldn't help thinking up an extremely long list of horrible situations that Caden could be in. Despite my subconscious frequently telling me to calm down, that Caden would be back any second, I couldn't stop thinking about him or where the hell he was. I finally resided myself to believing that I wouldn't stop acting like a scared little child until I saw his face and knew he was alright so I decided to stop pacing around the crevice like a madwoman and just sat down. Jett was watching me with a fascinated expression, like he was watching a weird and exotic animal or something and monitoring its behaviour, but wasn't saying a word. Finally the staring got to me.

"What?" I snapped at him.

"Nothing," he said with a small smirk and casually looking away from me.

"Then quit staring."

He grinned mischievously, "It's just...your pacing."

I frowned, "No I'm not. I'm sitting."

"You were pacing."

"So what?"

"Nothing," he said in an equally irritating tone as the last time he's said that.

I paused, "I'm worried ok? There, you happy?"

Jett smiled and rolled his eyes at the same time, "I already told you once I didn't hurt him. He just went to get some water."

"Just because you haven't killed him yet doesn't mean someone else hasn't."

Jett's smiled doubled in size, "Don't tell me you fell for him after he confessed his undying love for you."

I imagine my face would have looked absolutely hilarious to not only Jett but also to anyone watching on the TV after that. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped completely. I decided to let the 'fallen for him' comment go and just get down to the underlying question which of course was something along the lines of, "_How the hell did Jett know that?"_

"You_ knew_?" I exclaimed, the surprise making my voice hit a note possibly not audible for human ears.

Jett cracked up, no longer able to contain his laughter after seeing the look of absolute shock on my face.

"More or less yeah," he said once he had managed to catch his breath.

"_How_?" I didn't care that I was alerting every single threat within a ten mile radius to our presence with my volume, I was confused and infuriated all at the same time.

"Oh _come on_ Eora it was _so_ obvious," his amusement at this topic was not at all appreciated by me, "And the fact that you were _completely_ clueless made everything so much better."

I had to sit on my hands so I didn't slap him right across the face. This was in no way something to laugh at and the stupid self-satisfied smile on his lips was enough to make me reconsider not stabbing him with my knife.

"Well why didn't you tell me?" I couldn't stop the irritation I was feeling coming out in my voice.

"I did drop some hints," he said with malicious glee.

"When?"

"For one I told you he couldn't keep his eyes off you."

I tried to remember that. Oh yeah he had said something like that on the first day of training. He couldn't call that a hint, that was just an observation. But now that he mentioned it, some of his other actions during training suddenly made a lot more sense, like the humoured look on his face when he looked between Caden and I when we were talking at the sword station.

"That is not a hint," I yelled defensively, "A hint would be something along the lines of, 'Oh by the way Eora I think Caden's in love with you,'!"

Jett laughed at me again and once again I was fighting the burning itch to hit him, "That wouldn't be a hint, that would be telling you straight out."

"Well maybe you should have told me straight out, ever think of that _partner_?" I dropped the partner bit hoping to give him some grief about keeping a secret from me but it didn't work.

"If you couldn't see it when it was so ridiculously noticeable, you would have believed me anyway," he said with a devilish chuckle. At least this was fun for one of us, "I mean everything about the way he was around you, the way he looked at you, the way he 'lit up' whenever you were around, how could you not have seen it?"

"I don't know." I admitted quietly. I'd already accepted that I was an absolute idiot.

"Everyone else I talked to about it seemed to have the same assumptions about Caden's reasons for being here, well that's only really Clyde, my escort, and my mentors Siobhan and Sterling."

Was I the only idiot on the planet? How many other people knew and just decided not to tell me? Did Haymitch know? Did Macie? Did Rubin? Wait...Rubin. He was the one who had come to talk to me after that first night of training. What was it he had said to me...something about it not being smart to make friends? Ah, of course he knew, that's why he tried to keep me from befriending Caden, because he knew that Caden was already way past friendship. He was right of course, just look at me, I was already half scared to death just because Caden had left to get some water, making friends was definitely a stupid idea.

"How did everybody know?" I frowned as I concentrated. I mean Jett was right, looking back I should have suspected something, he _did_ look at me a lot, he _was_ different around me and don't even get me started on the way he kissed me that night back in our apartment._ I_ should have realised, but everyone else? They weren't around for most of that stuff, how did they all figure it out?

Jett's smile faded a little, "I'm guessing you didn't watch the replay of the reapings?"

I frowned again. The reapings? What did they have to do with anything?

"No I watched them."

Jett raised an eyebrow, "Even yours?"

"Oh, actually no I didn't watch ours. I...couldn't."

Jett nodded, as if he had just gained some kind of understanding, "That explains it. Well if you had watched it, you would have known."

The confusion must have shown on my face because Jett continued.

"You wouldn't believe how many cameras they have during those reapings," he explained, taking a deep breath, "Nor would you believe what they manage to capture, or _who_ they manage to capture." The way he empathised the word 'who' seemed to suggest that that made everything clearer but I still didn't quite get what he was saying.

He took another deep breath, "I imagine the live reapings would have looked different because they didn't know what was going to happen afterwards but in the recap I watched after they called out your name the first person they switched to was you, then two little girls standing with a pretty dark haired girl-"

"My sisters," I cut in, "and my best friend Alara." Hearing that I was glad I hadn't watched the reaping, I didn't want to see the look on Alara's face after I was reaped, or the confusion that would have been on Dori and Raine's faces after they heard my name.

"Yeah I assumed that was them after you told me about them," Jett agreed softly, "Well after they showed your sisters, they cut over to Caden's reaction."

He paused. Oh.

Jett looked like he was struggling for words, "If you had seen the look on Caden's face...well let's just say it wouldn't have been quite a surprise when he told you."

So that was why Caden hadn't wanted to watch the recap, not because he was reliving his actions, but because he didn't want to have to watch me get reaped again. Jett was right, I wasn't _that _blind, if Caden's face had been as telling as he seemed to think it was I would have realised and probably saved myself a whole lot of trouble trying to figure out why he had volunteered. Then again, whatever Caden's face had looked like, I imagine that would have haunted me just as badly as Alara's would have, so perhaps it was a good thing I didn't see it.

It seemed that neither of us really knew what to say next. While I was glad that Jett finally seemed to appreciate that this situation was not in any way humorous, I kind of wanted him to burst out laughing again so this awkward silence would break. However just before I was going to ask some menial question regarding...the weather or something unimportant like that, I heard the sound of approaching footsteps outside. I quickly jumped to my feet and had my hand on my knife instinctively, before mentally chastising myself for being so jumpy, especially considering I was pretty sure I knew who it was coming towards us and I had no intention of hurting him.

I ran out of the crevice to intercept him and as soon as I saw Caden's gorgeous face unharmed I yelled out his name and ran towards him, throwing my arms around him in relief. I didn't really care what I was doing I was so relieved to see him, the last half an hour or so had been ridiculously stressful and despite my constant reminders to quit freaking out and Jett's reassurance, I had still been imagining lots of unpleasant scenarios.

When I pulled away from him I could see a mixture of surprise and glee in his ridiculously dazzling blue eyes and he beamed at me. I quickly looked over him to make sure he was fine. His face was a little flushed and the thin line under his chin from where Jett had scratched him in their fight was still there but aside from that he looked perfect.

"What took you so damn long?" I asked, unable to hide the anxiety in my voice.

He smiled at me reassuringly, "I-" he started but he quickly cut his explanation short as he looked over my shoulder. His face darkened and his smile turned into a hate-filled scowl and I turned around to see what he was looking at and panicked a little when I saw it. Jett had come out of the crevice and wasn't standing nearly as far away as I would have liked.

I turned back around and was about to start explaining and pleading but Caden put up a hand to stop me after he saw I wasn't in anyway startled by Jett's presence. He took a few silent moments to absorb what he was seeing before he turned his glare to me.

"I don't even _want_ to know how the hell he talked his way out of this," he spat through closed teeth.

"Caden everything was just a misunderstanding," I gushed apologetically.

"Oh I'm sure it was," he said venomously as he returned his malicious scowl back over my shoulder at Jett.

"Caden-" I started, trying my hardest to get him to understand but Jett cut me off.

"Leave it Eora," Jett said sturdily, "I can deal with this," he changed his focus from me to Caden, "Come on. Get it out then. You don't think I've already shot down all of _her_ accusations? What makes you think yours will be any worse? If I can take her on and come out innocent I think I can take you."

Caden snorted and took a step towards Jett. I had a horrible feeling that my position in between them was probably the only thing keeping the two of them from knocking each other's heads off. Not only was I caught in the middle of a fight over supposed loyalties, I was in the middle of a fight over two boys' damaged egos. Uh oh.

"My list of accusations in considerably longer than hers," Caden snapped and stepped in again

"Oh yeah? How is that even possible? I never agreed to work with _you_." Step.

"No, but you did manage to attack me. Eora might have been upset you double crossed her but my reasons aren't quite as delicate. You tried to kill me." Step.

Jett laughed, "Oops did I hurt your feelings? In case you haven't noticed, this is the Hunger Games. _Everyone_ in here is trying to kill you." Step. The gap between the two of them was quickly shortening and I was running out of room between them.

"Yeah well so far you're the only one who's come at me with a sword. That _always_ translates into trust. Think about it Jett why shouldn't I trust you?" Step.

"Hmm let me think...because you haven't been in love with me for god knows long like the only person you _do _trust." Step.

That took Caden momentarily off guard but he didn't falter for long, "I trust people who've earned my trust. Being in love with her has nothing to do with it." Step. It was good to see that I wasn't even getting my name mentioned anymore.

"Ha, that's a joke. You've had it in for me from the moment you met me. And not because I did anything to prompt it, only because the girl you're in love with was spending more time with _me_ than she was with _you_." Step.

I could feel the tensions rising. There was way too much testosterone in this increasingly small amount of space between the three of us.

Caden snorted, "Yeah because _she_ was the one following _you_ around," Great, sarcasm was always going to make this situation better, "I didn't like you because you are a career and I didn't trust you for one second, and I was right not to obviously." Step.

"How good of you to be the bigger person and stereotype. Quite obviously I'm not a career." Step.

"Just because you're not with the career pack doesn't mean you're not a career. I've been watching these games ever since I was eight years old and the first thing I learnt was that the tributes from one, two and four will all do anything to get back to their perfect, pathetic little lives."

"This might be a surprise to you but not everyone is the same. Just because tributes before me have acted like monsters doesn't mean that I'm one."Step.

"Well your track record definitely supports you." Step.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"Step.

"Well let's see...what have you done so far? You've been reaped, pulled a ten in training, completely dazzled a crowd at your interview and then entered the arena and in the first five minutes were attacking the boy who was carrying your supposed ally to safety. Sounds like career material to me." Step. There was only a foot or so between Caden and Jett now, and I, being the lucky human being I was, had somehow managed to end up in between them.

"Oh you're_ so_ brave, brave enough to accuse me when she's standing in front of you protecting you. Well done you." Jett clapped his hands in mock approval as he stepped in again.

Caden was just about to lash into him again when I decided it was about time I stepped in. I put two fingers in my mouth and used them to let out a loud, high pitched wolf whistle. They both looked down at me in surprise and I looked back between them.

"Yeah, that's right, I'm still here," I added, ignoring the fact that I had stooped to using sarcasm as well but hey, if you can't beat them join them.

"Eora-" Jett started but I was in no way ready to be silenced yet.

I put my hand up to silence him, "You, shut up," I yelled defiantly, which prompted a grin from Caden, before I turned back to face Caden, "And you, listen to me. I get that you don't believe him but I do," now it was Jett's turn to shoot a satisfied grin at Caden, "and I know you don't get why and you don't like it but I do. So you don't have to trust him for know because he hasn't earnt your trust, but trust me. Ok?"

Caden wouldn't meet my gaze and I could see his anger still quite evident on his face. I kept looking back and forth between the two of them looking for signs of agreement but I wasn't getting any.

"Guys there are twelve people out there that are all trying to kill you and I give you my permission and my _blessing_ to kill any and all of them if you want to, just don't kill each other.," I paused to calm myself down and catch my breath. I'd regret yelling at them later but for now it seemed to be working, "_Twelve people_, that's four times as many as the three of us, and we're going to need to be able to trust each other not to get ourselves killed if we want to have any kind of chance of living through the next, however long the games go for. So can we just agree... to work together...please?"

They looked at each other, not nicely I'll admit, but there seemed to be some kind of mutual understanding passing between the two of them. They both nodded at each other and then Caden looked down and smiled at me. I smiled back and turned to look at Jett but he wouldn't meet my gaze. Oh well, not my biggest problem.

Jett sighed, "Well, I did bring this as a peace offering anyway," he said wearily as he pulled his broadsword out of its sheath on his back. I couldn't help taking a step back away from him as he pulled it out which prompted a small smile from him. He tossed it from his right hand to his left before handing it out to Caden.

Caden looked at the outstretched sword dubiously, "How convenient. A peace offering that could have been used to kill us both if we hadn't been so open armed about your return." I hit him lightly on the arm for his negativity and frowned at him. This was actually a pretty big, I mean Jett had just given Caden something he could use quite easily to kill him if he wanted to, my speech must have worked.

Caden was trying to look unaffected by Jett's 'peace offering' but I could see in his eyes the delight he felt in having that sword in his grasp. Jett unstrapped the sheath from across his chest and handed it to Caden. He hesitated before taking it.

"Are you sure?" Caden asked doubtfully, "I mean, I don't want to take the blame if I can't use it as well as you."

Jett shrugged his shoulder, "Nah, you're better with it than I am anyway. As long as you promise not to slit my throat with it while I'm asleep, you can use it."

Caden muttered a small thanks as he strapped the sword sheath around his shoulder and placed the sword in it and I couldn't help feeling a little bit proud of myself. I nodded in self satisfaction and turned around to walk back towards the crevice muttering to myself.

"Stupid boys with all their bravado and testosterone, always trying to solve their problems with their fists rather than their brains. If they had actually just decided to talk it out rather than engage in a death match we could have saved ourselves ten minutes."

"What was that?" Jett said as he came up next to me, a impish grin on his face, like he'd just caught me out.

"Nothing." I murmured innocently.

The three of us managed not to say much to each other, for better or worse I'm not really sure, but I think somewhere along the line we all decided just to head out and see what happened because not before long we were back out in the open and ready for the events of the day. I made sure to keep myself safely between the two of them as we walked around the hillside because, even though they'd made some progress on the trust front, I still worried they'd crack and start throwing punches.

The hillside had been completely transformed from the way it had looked yesterday. The forest floor had been enveloped in a thick, calf deep layer of soft powder snow that glistened in the emerging sunlight. It was kind of beautiful, the way snow clung to the bare branches of the trees and the rocks, even if it made walking ten times harder than it should've been. It was hard to believe that the entire arena had been shifted into this wintry paradise and I was actually boiling. I mean don't get me wrong, it was bloody freezing outside, but wading my way through the damn snow all day was really making me work up a sweat and I almost wanted to take off my jumper just so I could cool down.

At one point, just after we had stopped for a water break, Caden looked up towards the peak of the mountain.

"Well," he murmured after taking a long slurp from his flask, "This snow might be horrible to walk in all day, but there's one good thing about it?"

"Oh yeah what's that?" Jett asked humourously.

Caden had a devious grin on his face, "We can take some comfort knowing that the careers will be freezing their asses off sitting up there on that mountain."

Jett laughed and I, who unfortunately had been in the middle of taking a sip off water, managed to start choking on my water as I tried to laugh and drink at the same time. I almost fell off my makeshift rock seat in surprise. Caden...had just made a joke...with Jett around? Well I can tick that off my list of things I never thought was ever going to happen. Maybe this could work out after all.

However just as I had recovered from my coughing fit I heard the sound of rustling branches through the silence. I quickly got up and snapped around and did my best not to gasp at the sight in front of me. Prowling their way through the forest, approximately a hundred metres away from Caden, Jett and I, were two of the biggest beasts I had ever seen in my entire life. They were like nothing I had ever seen before. Their fur was only a shade or two darker than the snow they were standing on and even from as far away as I was I could see their long canines sticking out from inside their ridiculously large jaws. They slightly resembled cats, with long thick tails and huge paws, so they were probably some kind of feline creature, but I could never had imagined a cat to be anywhere near that big. Even on all fours they looked as if they would be nearly as tall as me, maybe only half a foot shorter, and their limbs looked strong and powerful. It took only one look at the way these creatures held themselves to see that they were predators, and I had a horrible feeling we were their prey. There was absolutely no way that whatever these animals were that they were creatures of nature. No way in hell. Nature wasn't designed that unevenly. This snow cat looked like it contained every single element needed to be a perfect hunter.

"Mutts," I breathed, daring not to move in case I startled them. For now it looked like they hadn't seen us but it would only be a matter of time, I could already see one of the creature's long snouts pointing upwards towards the air, like it could smell its prey. There was no doubting it, this thing had been created by the gamemakers. Mutations or 'mutts' were not a rare sighting in the Hunger Games but still the sight of these two cats took my breath away. During the dark days the capitol had experimented on a number of animals and had turned them into weapons to use against their enemies. After they had defeated the untrained and under provisioned rebels they ran out of uses for most of their mutts, but the rumours spread that they were still experimenting on animals, which were of course proven true when a couple of their aberrations popped up in the Games when things started to get boring. Mutts weren't the gamemakers favourite way to heaten up the Games, because of course that would mean that we weren't killing each other which is always the most entertaining way for us to get knocked off, but like I said before I shouldn't have been shocked that they had resorted to using these cats. Only one person had died yesterday, and so far no one had died today, it's almost surprising the gamemakers hadn't intervened sooner; capitol viewers don't like it when things get boring so early in the games. Something, or someone, must have been keeping them entertained.

Caden, Jett and I all stared at the beasts, all three of us barely breathing. I watched in terror as one of the cats' head slowly turned towards us. When its eyes met with mine it paused for a second, like it was sizing me up, then took a cautious step forwards.

Jett turned around and started making a break for it. I looked back at Caden but he was already looking at me, the fear in my heart echoed in his face. The cats were still hesitant to approach us.

"Come on you idiots!" Jett called as he ran, "Run!"

There was no way in hell I was going to take on one of those cats and win, knives or no knives. Caden nodded at me and we both quickly turned and ran as fast as we could, following Jett's tracks despite the sound approaching footsteps behind us.


	26. Foursome

**Ok this chapter is really long but I couldn't be bothered to split in a half and I really knew where I wanted it to end so...hope you enjoy**

Foursome

Running through the forest I lost almost all sense of reality. Normal fears and worries seemed entirely gone, completely replaced and obscured by an instinct in me telling me to run and never look back. This wasn't a time for me to stop and think, this was a moment where the only thing that was on my mind was my own survival. I ran faster than I had ever before, the world around me turning into a complete and utter blur, the only things I could see were the potential paths in front of me. I passed Jett in less than an instant and kept going, not looking back for a second to see how he was. I could hear the cries of the snow cats behind me which only pushed me further into survival mode and forced me to run even faster than I had before. I was constantly flicking loose tree branches and other obstacles out of my face, not even registering the pain from the cuts and scratches that were beginning to cover my hands and face. I guess it was a good thing I had such a huge jacket on, if only to protect the rest of my body from the things in my way, even if it did slow me down a little. I don't know how long I would have run for, or how far I would have gone before finally tiring out because the adrenaline pumping through my veins was a far better fuel than any food, water or rest could have ever been. I felt like I could have kept running forever; never stopping, until Jett spoke and managed to bring me back to reality, back to the real world around me.

"What do we do?" Jett screamed at me from behind. I had to admit, I was surprised me managed to keep up. I mean he was already starting to look exhausted when I quickly turned around to look at him but he was keeping pace relatively well, only twenty metres or so behind me. However I almost stopped in my tracks when I looked back and Caden was nowhere to be seen, and neither were either of the snow cats.

"Where's Caden?" I screamed back at Jett, unable to hide the desperation in my voice and I slowed down a fraction. I couldn't believe had just completely run for the hills and left him behind me, what the hell came over me?

"He has a sword, he'll be fine," Jett managed to choke out, he was puffing heavily now and it was becoming obvious he was tiring, "The only people we should be worrying about is us. We can't out run them forever."

I hated to admit it but Jett was right. As worried as I was about Caden, out of the three of us he seemed to be the only one with a 'fight' reflex rather than a 'flight' one, if the cats had caught up to him there was nothing I could do to help him anyway and I had seen what he could do with a sword so I needed to believe he was alright. I _had_ to believe he could survive, or I doubted whether I would be able to survive myself. For now all I could do was put my faith in his ability to keep himself alive and focus on doing so myself.

As I ran I looked around for some kind of escape but all I could see around me were trees, trees and, oh here's a shock, more trees. The only thing I could think of was running far enough down into the valley to reach the river and then hope that the cats couldn't swim, but I severely doubted whether either Jett or I could make it that far before the cats caught up to us. But now that I looked at them, the trees could be an option. Some of them had low hanging branches that were definitely thick enough to hold a person's weight, and then the branches thinned out closer to the top. Would it work? Maybe. Would we die if we didn't find something else? Definitely. Those are good enough odds for me.

"We need to climb up into the trees," I yelled back at Jett as I scanned the trees I ran past to find one that I would be able to climb.

"Are you crazy," I heard him roar from behind me, "Did you see the paws on those things? I'm not willing to bet my life on the fact that they can't climb."

"Well I _am_ willing to bet that they weigh more than we do," I retorted at the same time that I spotted a large tree with a branch low enough for me to swing up onto, "If we keep climbing upwards they won't be able reach us."

I grabbed onto the branch above my head and kicked into the trunk of the tree, bouncing off the trunk and swinging myself up onto the branch. I ignored Jett's protests from below and quickly scampered up the tree, testing each branch before I stepped on it just in case it was going to break. Eventually I reached a point where the branches wouldn't hold my weight any longer and forced myself to stop before I fell and got myself killed. I looked down and had a slight panic attack when I saw that Jett had stopped several metres short of me, being the much heavier of the two of us he couldn't get nearly as far up as me, and I prayed that the snow cats would have much more difficulty climbing up as high as he had.

"Now what?" he asked pessimistically, "They corner us in this tree and we die of starvation on dehydration, whichever one comes first?"

I glared at him, "Shut up. I'm trying to listen."

"For what?"

_For Caden you idiot_. Thankfully I had more control over my mouth than I did my mind, "For the snow cats."

We stood in silence for a few moments before I could hear someone crashing through the trees. From my vantage point up high in the tree I could see Caden running about a hundred metres away from where we were, the snow cats quick in pursuit. One of them had stains of blood on their snow-white coat and the other had the slightest limp in its stride, but even so they were gaining on him.

"Caden," I screamed as I climbed back down a few branches to where Jett was, "Over here!"

He seemed to have heard my voice but from what I could see he hadn't seen me. He looked around as he ran and after what felt like an eternity he saw the two of us and made a beeline heading towards our tree. By the time he reached the base of it the cats were only twenty metres or so behind him. I climbed down further, despite Jett's objections and quickly outstretched my hand to Caden. He took it and used it and the trunk of the tree as anchors and managed to haul himself up onto the branch. We both began climbing up further, not bothering to test branches this time, our frantic climb no longer about precautions.

"Hurry up," Jett yelled from above us, "They're right behind you."

I didn't turn around to check but I didn't doubt him. I could hear their rabid snarls coming from far too close behind me for my liking which only spurred me on faster. I reached a branch on the same level as Jett's far before Caden did but I almost wished I hadn't. When I turned around to look down I could see how close to him the snow cats actually were and I started yelling and screaming for him to climb faster before they could catch him. The cats made the climbing seem ridiculously effortless, the way they bounded from branch to branch with the most delicate footing was almost beautiful, if it hadn't been for the fact they were about to kill me and two boys I cared about very much. When one of them got within range it reached out its gigantic paw and managed to run its claws down along the back of Caden's leg. I almost screamed as I saw the blood pooling from the wound but Caden only flinched before climbing up onto the next branch and out of the predators grasp again. Jett and I helped haul him onto the final branch so that he was on the same general level as the two of us before looking back down at the cats.

The seemed to have realised that they were treading on very unsteady ground because they both seemed to be looking up at us with longing, comfortably three of four metres below us, however they were obviously smart enough to realise that the branches wouldn't be able to support their weights. They both reared up on their hind legs and tried to reach us but Caden used his sword to threaten them enough not to continue swiping at us. They backed off far enough away that Caden's sword couldn't reach them but they continued to stake out the tree, waiting for us to make a move to come down.

"What do we do now?" Caden asked once he caught his breath, "We can't just sit here and wait for them to leave because I doubt they will."

"Do you think we could take them?" Jett asked looking back at Caden for an answer. It seemed he had already lived through one fight with them, the evidence being the blood on his sword, so maybe with all three of us we could take them out for good.

Caden shook his head, "I doubt it. Luckily for me only one of them caught up to me at a time. The first I managed to slice in the side but it wasn't deep enough to do any damage. And the other I only barely got in the leg. With both of them at once and the issues that being in a tree present, I don't think we could fight them. Although," he looked at me with the joy of an idea burning in the back of his eyes, "Maybe you could hit them from up here."

"You mean with a knife?" I asked, almost laughing at his suggestion, "If your sword didn't hurt them I doubt any of our knives would be big enough to do any real damage."

"Well if you hit it in a specific spot," Caden said, his voice still hopeful, "Like the temple or the neck-"

"Or," Jett butted it, "What if you hit it with this?" he said pulling out a huge machete from tucked in sheath at his waist.

I fought the urge to hit him but couldn't fight the urge to yell at him, "You had a _machete_ this whole time!"

He scowled at me, "Well it's not like I had time to add as we were running for our lives, 'oh by the way I have a machete, just thought you should know.'"

"Well it would have been nice to know," I mumbled under my breath as I looked away from him. He obviously heard me; he rolled his eyes and held out the machete by the handle.

"Can you hit it with this or not?"

I looked doubtfully at the machete. It was basically just a really big knife, even if the blade did have a slight curve on one side, so I guessed I could throw it. The only problem was I hadn't practiced with a knife nearly as big as this one in the training centre and I wasn't sure how good my aim would be.

"I'll do it," I groaned before taking the machete from Jett's hands, "But just warning you there is a very high chance you won't be getting this machete back."

Jett almost laughed, "If it gets me out of this tree I'm willing to sacrifice it."

I looked back down at the cats who were pacing along several of the lower branches below us, effortlessly bounding from one to the other when needs be. I contemplated which one of the two cats to aim for. The one that Caden had wounded in the side was facing away from me and I could see the blood still seeping out of the open wound. If either of the two of them was in any kind of bad shape it would have to have been that one. The other one, the one with the limp, had stopped and paused to lick its paw on a branch. It was facing me which made it the easier target, but then again the other one was more badly wounded so if I missed and only hit it in a non fatal area there would be a higher chance of it bleeding out. I tossed up the options in my head and then decided that I would aim for the one with the limp, only because my aim wasn't going to be great with this machete so I needed all the help I could get.

I took a deep breath and focused in on the mutt. I noticed it had a small mark right in the centre of its forehead and used that as my target. I took a deep breath and tried to keep calm, trying to push out a nagging pessimistic voice in my head reminding me that this was our only shot to escape, and launched the machete down towards the snow cat with all the strength and precision I could, letting out a little sound as I did. The snow cat below me heard me and heard the sound of the machete moving towards it and started to move but it wasn't fast enough. It managed to stand up to try and dodge the oncoming threat, just as the machete sunk into the side of its neck. Its body went limp and it fell out of the tree with a loud 'thump' as it hit the ground. As it lay lifeless on the ground, blood pooling from the place where the machete had pierced its neck, I almost felt sorry for the creature. I mean it hadn't really done anything wrong, it was in its nature to hunt its prey, even if it wasn't a normal creature it didn't deserve to die. Just more pointless death that the gamemakers thrived on. Well if anything good could have happened from being attacked my giant, ferocious felines, maybe we gave the capitol enough entertainment to keep them at bay for a day or two.

"Nice shot," Jett applauded giving me a large thump on the back that nearly sent me flying to the ground to join the mutt I had just killed, "Before I was just taking your word for it when you said you could throw knives but now I regret doubting you."

I didn't really want to mention the fact that I had been aiming for the cats head rather than its neck so I just said with a smug tone, "Well you should."

The second snow cat looked down at the limp body of its companion and quickly ran before it met a similar fate and within minutes it was completely out of my vision. The three of us debated staying up in the tree for a while so we were sure the cat was nowhere near us but eventually we decided that the three of us could probably take it now that it was alone and injured. Once we had climbed back down the tree Jett moved over to the corpse of the mutt and retrieved his blood stained machete and I examined the dead cat further now that I was closer up to it.

It was really magnificent, the way everything about it seemed to radiate strength and predatorial perfection. What had appeared to be bleach white fur from far away was actually a combination of millions of different shades of whites and greys that made it almost blend into the snow covered landscape on which it fell. Running my hands across its fur I was glad we didn't try and run to the river and hope it couldn't swim because the slick, silky touch of the fur suggested it was designed for speed through the water. Its giant paws were based with tough, strong pads that suggested it could walk on harsh terrain without cutting itself and the long claws coming from the tips of its paws were not only excellent weapons but were perfect for aiding in climbing and digging. Its mouth was huge and its strong jaw was lined with ridiculously long, sharp teeth that could have so easily ripped through human flesh. Even in death, the beast terrified me with simply the potential for devastation it presented.

Debatably the worst part about this whole attack was that now we had no damn clue where the hell we were. I looked around trying to get my bearings but I had nothing, this patch of forest looked exactly like every other patch of forest I had seen. Luckily Caden was considerably smarted than me and he took the initiative to trace back our tracks in the snow. Now while I thought this was a brilliant idea it also posed some very scary questions, such as 'if we could use these tracks to lead us back to the crevice, who else could?' So we made as much of an effort as we could to step in the pre-existing tracks so to any stickybeak who happened to come across these tracks and wonder where he could find the creator, he would think we had gone in the complete opposite direction.

As we were walking back Caden, who was leading, stopped right in his tracks, no pun intended, and cocked his ear upwards.

"Did you hear that?" he asked cautiously, looking around as though he expected to see something.

"What?" Jett and I said in almost unison.

He paused again, "Did either of you cough?"

I looked at Jett and he shook his head, "No. Why? What's going on Caden?"

"Nothing. It's just I could have sworn I-"he cut off with a startled look on his face.

The first thing going through my mind was, _no not the cats again_ but as I did a quick one-eighty to see whatever it was that had shocked Caden I couldn't see anything. Jett turned around as well but I could see from his face he was as confused as I was.

"Caden what is it?" I asked with a little more concern than before.

He was staring at nothing, or that's what it looked like to me anyway, nothing but an empty forest.

"You might as well come out now," he yelled out powerfully into the nothingness, "I've seen you. And now you I'm giving you three seconds to run before we come and hunt you down."

I had no clue who the hell he thought he was talking to because there was no one there. I was just about to check and make sure he didn't have a fever or something when I saw some movement from behind a large oak approximately seventy five metres to the right of us. Caden wasn't going crazy, there was a person there. Sudden terror ran down me. This was the first actual encounter we'd had with anyone since the bloodbath and I felt a genuine fear of attack, as well as the dread that I might actually have to kill someone today. My hand instinctively went to the knives at me waist again but this time I held on with a reassuring grip.

"I just want to talk," said a light female voice in a tone that indicated she came in peace.

As she came closer I was able to match the face with the voice. Her long dark hair was matted and knotty and her pale skin seemed even whiter now she was surrounded by snow. She seemed even thinner than she had been back at the capitol, which is no mean feat considering her sickly thin frame, and her clothes were covered in dirt and grime, a common factor amongst most of the surviving tributes I had noticed. I gripped onto my knife even tighter; yeah right she just wanted to talk.

"Kaia?" Jett exclaimed with surprise, "I told you last time I caught you following me that if I caught you again I wouldn't let you go."

"Last time?" I asked, apparently there were some aspects of his recollection of the past few days he had neglected to inform me of.

"Well obviously I ignored you," Kaia said, completely ignoring me, and yet she managed to notice how dependant I had become on my stable grasp of my knife, "I don't want to hurt you. Like I said, I just want to talk."

"About what?" Caden said, asking the question we were all thinking.

"An alliance," she said cheerfully.

I snorted, "Ally? With you?" I'll admit it was a little harsh but hey, I'd never said a word to this girl in my entire life, now she wanted me to trust her with it. Good luck there.

Jett ignored my bitchy little comment and took my role as the responsible one in the trio, "Why would you want to ally with us?"

She beamed at me, completely ignorant of the fact I had just insulted her, well ignorant or she was just ignoring me, "Same reason any of you allied in the first place. Survival. Although..." she smiled deviously, "I think for some of you teaming up really didn't have anything to do with survival did it?" She winked at me.

I think out of the three of us Caden was the only one who didn't blush at her bold statement, probably because he was the only one who expected to be caught out.

"And it's not like I could team up with the careers," she added, "I mean they would never want to work with me. So I came to you guys."

"And why would we want to work with you?" I said, not meaning to sound as catty as I did.

She took out what looked like a knife connected to a chain and started twirling it around in little circles in front of her indifferently, "Numbers. There are five careers and three of you. If you came up against them in a fight, even if you had the skill they would overpower you. Maybe with one more on your side you'll be able to even up the playing field a little."

She made a good point but her argument was pretty weak. I mean we didn't even know if she _could _fight let alone whether we could trust her enough to let her work with us. She seemed like a lively, fun loving kind of person from all I had seen but that was hardly going to be beneficial now. I looked over at Caden to try and see what he made of all this and he looked equally as conflicted a I felt. I turned to try and gather Jett's reaction but when I looked at his face he was gaping at Kaia with a stunned look on his face and he looked absolutely dumbfounded.

"Where. Did you. Get that?" he asked slowly, gesturing toward the thing she was twirling around.

She looked down at the chain/knife thing in her hands, "What? This? I picked it up in the bloodbath. I tried to detach the chain from the knife because this second blade that sticks out from the bottom would make it more deadly than a normal knife but I couldn't get it off."

Jett turned to me, his eyes full of excitement, "That's it. That's a shoge," he said gesturing towards the weapon in Kaia's hands, "That was supposed to be for me."

"A what?" Caden whispered in my ear from behind me, startling me somewhat. When did he get so close to me?

"Jett's weapon of choice," I whispered back, hopefully not loud enough for Kaia to have overheard, "The weapon he scored a ten with at training?"

"What? That?" he sounded unconvinced, "It doesn't look that impressive."

I looked back at the shoge. Caden was right, it didn't look all that impressive. It basically consisted of a normal knife with a smaller curved blade coming out from the base of the blade at ninety degrees. The hilt of the knife was then linked to a chain, maybe fifteen feet long I guessed from the way it was coiled, and at the end of the chain was a large metal ring. Looking at it I wasn't really sure how exactly one would use it.

Kaia had a mischievous glimmer in her eye, "Do you want it?" she asked Jett playfully.

Jett rolled his eyes, "What gave me away?"

Kaia grinned, "I'll make you a deal. I'll give you this...whatever you called it if you agree to let me work with you."

"Deal," Jett said at the same time as I said, "No way."

Jett and I frowned at each other.

"One second," Jett said grabbing me by the forearm and pulling me over to talk to me. Caden followed us and joined the conversation right before Jett started talking.

"Eora, I _need_ that shoge," he pleaded, his big brown eyes linking with mine "It was put in here for me. You have no idea what I can do with it."

"Yeah but we can't just go around agreeing to team up whoever has something we want," I added stubbornly.

"Come on," he begged, "You got to bring one random friend into the alliance. Why can't I?"

Caden frowned at him, "I'm standing right here."

I ignored him, "Caden is not a _random friend_. He is someone I know and I trust. Can you say that about Kaia?"

"No. But why would she take the risk if she didn't genuinely think we were her best option? She knows very well we could kill her if we wanted to."

"Look," I sighed, "Why don't we vote on it? There's three of us, we can do majority rules." I only really suggested that because I knew Caden would side with me over Jett.

Jett groaned. It was obvious he thought the same thing, "Fine. All in favour of letting Kaia work with us," he said as he raised his hand. I looked at Caden and he winced apologetically as he raised his hand as well. My jaw dropped. He had totally bailed on me. Jett smiled at me smugly.

"Majority rules," he said and the self-satisfaction in his voice was enough to make me want to hit him.

I turned and looked at Caden questioningly.

"Sorry," he gushed, "But she had a point with that numbers theory. We need all the help we can get."

I stuck my tongue out at him childishly, "Traitor."

He grinned cutely at me, "Come on, you have to admit, it would have to make sense for me to side with him over you."

I turned back to Kaia who was standing with her hands on her hips impatiently. She raised an eyebrow, "Well? Do we have a deal?"

Jett smiled at her, "Yes we have a deal," he walked over to her and extended his hand, "Allies?"

"Allies," she said beaming at him. They shook hands and then she handed him the shoge. As soon as it was in his hands Jett completely lit up and I was almost excited to see what he could do with it. But I was hardly going to let him see that was I? Especially after I had fought so hard against all this, and lost.

"You better be absurdly amazing with that thing Jett," I said with fake cynicism, "Or else..." I made a dramatic production out of punching my fist against my palm.

He laughed, "Don't worry. I am."

We walked the rest of the way back in silence all for different reasons. Me, because I wasn't happy with the idea of working with Kaia, I mean she seemed alright but I hardly knew her. Jett, because he was enraptured by his shoge, balancing it on his palm as he walked at trying to get a feel of the weight and proportions of it. I can only guess at Caden and Kaia's respective reasons for being quiet but I imagine that Caden was silent because Jett was around and Kaia, maybe she was intimidated by all of us, either that or she didn't want to ruin the peace.

The was setting by the time we got back to the crevice, which by the way was hilarious because Kaia had looked completely perplexed when we all started disappearing behind some rocks, and we all attended to various housekeeping chores. Jett stayed outside to practice with his shoge so I told Kaia to start the fire and begin boiling the water. We had only managed to take down a couple of rabbits this morning before we were attacked by the snow cats but we still had plenty of meat left over from the past couple of days and, to Caden's absolute delight, plenty of Kale. While Kaia dealt with the food at one end of the crevice I took Caden down the other end, despite his protests, and began to work on dressing his wound. I had wanted to do it earlier but he had insisted that it wasn't hurting, and even though I didn't believe him, he had used the excuse of wanting to get back to the crevice before dark to delay me.

"Seriously Eora," he said as I quite literally dragged him over to where I had left my pack which had the bandages in it, "I'm fine. It's barely even bleeding anymore."

"Shut up and sit down," I said ignoring his complaints, "You brought me back from the dead, the least I can do is bandage your wound."

He groaned in reluctance as he took off his pants so I could bandage up his leg. Yes I know the question on all your minds and to answer it yes, he did have undershorts on, seriously you perverts. There were only a few gashes in his calf and thigh that actually looked bad but the ones that did seemed deep enough to get infected so I dampened a strip of bandage and cleaned the wounds before bandaging them up. Once Caden had got his pants back on he turned back to me.

"While we're here we might as well change your bandages too," he said teasingly.

I grimaced at him, "We don't need to. We should save the bandage. As we've just proved you'll never know when you might need it." Hey I never said I wasn't a hypocrite.

He grinned at me, "Come on, if I let you do mine, you have to let me do yours."

I rolled my eyes and sighed, "Fine."

I pulled up the bottom of my shirt so he could undo the bandage around my abdomen. I was fairly distressed to find that my stab wound was still bleeding, not much, but bleeding none the less and it was weeping as well. As good as Caden's makeshift sutures were they weren't exactly up to a particularly high medical standard so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that the wound wasn't healing fast. Once Caden had successfully rewrapped the bandages around my waist the two of us went back over to help Kaia with the food, but before we sat down next to her I heard the sound of the anthem playing outside. I looked at Caden and frowned.

"I don't remember hearing a cannon today?"

"My neither," he admitted, "Maybe they were just too far away for us to hear."

I briefly considered it but I doubted it. We'd heard every other cannon so far. Once the anthem had finished Jett came back inside.

"Who was in the sky?" I asked as I cut up some of the meat from yesterday's fox.

"No one," Jett said as he sat down next to Kaia.

"No one?" I exclaimed. That didn't bode well. I mean the gamemakers had already sent in giant snow cats when we were only averaging a couple of deaths a day, imagine what they would do now that there had been no deaths today, "How is that even possible. I mean there's fifteen of us left."

"I don't know," Jett wondered, "But I do know that if things don't start heating up soon someone will start intervening and those snow cats we saw today will seem like cuddly kittens."

"Snow cats?" Kaia asked as she dished out some of the greens she had just finished preparing. The three of us proceeded to tell her about our encounter with the mutts as we ate and how we had managed to escape, even though Jett probably exaggerated the story a little. By the time we had all finished eating I was exhausted.

"I'll take first watch," Kaia said when I suggested we set up a rotation, which of course didn't make me all that comfortable, but I suppose if she was going to slit my throat in the night she could do it at any stage so it didn't really matter which shift she had. She doused the fire before she went outside to guard and very quickly it became very cold. If the arena was seasonal like Jett said then this was the equivalent of late January, early February, which for all of you who don't know, is pretty damn cold. As the three of us looked around the floor of the suddenly crowded feeling crevice we all managed to do the mental maths. Three people. One sleeping bag. Caden might be the maths genius but even I managed to figure out that that was v=never going to divide evenly.

"I'm not cold," Caden said bluntly, although his huddled position and his blue lips seemed to contradict him, "So I guess one of you two can have the sleeping bag."

Jett looked at him and rolled his eyes before looking back at me.

"Well I am cold," he said, "And from the look of it I would guess that that sleeping bag is big enough for two. And since Caden so chivalrously declared that he wasn't freezing his ass off like the rest of us, I guess you and I can share the sleeping bag then Eora." He grinned at me deviously.

Caden glared at Jett as he realised how badly his polite, gentleman like gesture had backfired.

"Umm thanks," I stalled, "But... I wanted to talk to Kaia for a second. I'll be back." I quickly rushed outside before a world war broke out and I was stuck in the middle of it again. Kaia was sitting right outside the entrance to the crevice and I quietly came up and sat down next to her.

"Mind if I sit here?" I asked lightly, sitting with my knees pressed against my chest to preserve as much body heat as possible.

"Not at all," she said with a little smile.

We sat in silence for a few awkward moments before I spoke up.

"I'm sorry I was such a bitch to you before," I rambled, "I'm normally not like that. But you have to understand that I don't really know you. And then all of a sudden you turn up out of nowhere and want to work with us and I don't know why."

"I get it. I would probably be the same in your situation, suspicious and distrustful."

"So why did you want to work with us?"

"I already told you that?"

I snorted, "Yeah but now I want the real reason."

She sighed, "You won't get it."

Man that was getting annoying.

"Try me," I challenged.

She sighed again, "I have a list."

I frowned, "A what?"

"A list."

"A list of what?"

"A list of ten things I wanted to do before I die." She said nonchalantly, "Six of them I've completed but I want to finish the last four before someone kills me."

"I'm sorry if this is a rude again but why?" It just sounded so stupid and pointless. Why bother?

She smiled sadly, "Well think about everything we've lost, everything we're never going to get the chance to do. So the day after I was reaped I wrote this list of all the things I decided I needed to do and then I'd be ready to die."

That made absolutely no sense whatsoever to me, "Alright, I play along and pretend I understand. What are the four things you have left?"

She smiled, "You won't like them."

I just looked at her with my eyebrows raised until she got the gist of my expression and continues talking.

"Well first, that I do something new every day until the day I die."

I thought about it for a second, "That's one actually kind of makes sense."

She smiled, "I've kind of turned it into a game, at the end of each day I'll go back and list all the things I did that I'd never done before?" She laughed, "I mean this is the Hunger _Games_ isn't it? Shouldn't we have a little bit of fun?"

I doubt anyone who's ever been involved in them would agree with her but you had to admire her attitude.

"Alright what are the other three things?"

"Kill someone and save someone's life are the second and the third ones," she remained strangely unaffected by the fact she'd just admitted that she'd need to take someone else's life before feeling ready to die herself. Not exactly normal.

"And the last one..." she drifted off before saying it, her cheeks reddening ever so slightly.

"Yes?"

"To kiss someone."

Ah. Now the truth came out.

"That's why I followed Jett," she admitted bashfully, "Because I knew wherever he'd be, you be."

Huh?

"And I knew wherever you'd be, Caden would be," her cheeks kept getting redder and redder.

I decided to play defensive rather do what was coming to me instinctively which was yell all kind of horrible abuses at her.

"And how did you know that?"

"Oh please," she chuckled a little, "He's completely devoted to you. It's so-"

"If you say obvious I may have to slap you," I snapped before she could say it.

She blushed again, "I was going to say cute."

"So you allied with Caden, Jett and I because you want Caden to kiss you?"

She laughed nervously, "It's not like I have my heart set solely on Caden or anything, I just think he's gorgeous and I figured I might as well set my sights high. Anyway I figured since you had two boys on your hands I might come and take one off you."

I laughed, "By all means take them both if you want them."

She smiled at me with a look that conveyed hidden understanding, "You say that but you don't really mean it. I watched you with Jett back in the training centre and I know you like spending time with him. And it's not hard to see that you care about Caden."

I did _not_ want to get into this now. By all means if she wanted to declare us best friends for life or whatever and then pour her soul out to me that's fine, but there was no way in hell I was going to reciprocate. I quickly decided to change the subject.

"There's just one problem with your list," I said, "The whole time you keep saying things you want to do before you die. Well what if you win?"

She smiled her hopeless smile at me again, Rubin would have been proud of her ability to master such a perfect sober smile, "That's something else that's interesting about you guys. I've admitted that I'm going to die; I've stopped fighting it because really I don't have a chance. I scored a four in training. A _four_. I don't have any real fighting ability and I don't have survival instincts like other people do. I'm not afraid to die. Your Caden, he's like me, he's accepted it too, unlike you and Jett, although you can see Jett starting to waver, compared to what he was like on the first day of training."

"Ok first," I butted in, "He is not _my_ Caden. And secondly that's not true at all. None of us have accepted that we're going to die, I made Caden promise he would try and win."

She smiled at me with a devilish humour in her eyes, "If you say so."

"I do."

She yawned, "Well you should get some sleep while you can."

"You're right," I said remembering how exhausted I actually was, "Good night Kaia."

"Good night Eora."

I walked back inside the crevice where both Jett and Caden had fallen asleep on the cold hard ground and had left me the sleeping bag. I would make them pay for that in the morning. Chivalry is a prehistoric idea in my opinion and in this world it doesn't help to be making concessions for people based on gender. Although I did appreciate the gesture because it was freaking freezing. I drifted off to sleep quite literally as soon as I was all snuggled up in the sleeping bag. I only woke up once before my shift, when Kaia come back in from her shift and I offered to share the sleeping bag with her since we were both pretty small and could fit inside it easily.

The next day started off pretty normally. Jett, who had the third shift, woke me up to take my shift and like normal, nothing happened. I made breakfast and once the others were up we ate and then headed out to embark on whatever the day would bring us. And like normal we just walked, caught some game whenever we saw any and tried to memorise the hillside. The snow on the ground had all melted away and now the arena had returned to that fresh, crisp, quite obviously spring like day that felt like utter perfection to me. The leaves on the trees were green, flowers bloomed, the grass wash lush and moist under my feet, everything you could ask of a lovely spring day.

However things started to veer from normal pattern just before we were about to stop for lunch. The four of us were walking through the forest, like normal , when I began to hear a strange repetitive thumping sound. I was just about to turn around and ask my companions whether any of them had heard it when I saw out of the corner of my eye a lot of movement coming in our direction. I turned around and saw coming towards us a huge stampede of wild boar, there had to be a good couple of hundred in number and they weren't far behind us. And these weren't just wild pigs like the ones Caden and I had killed on our second day, these were boar, like your metre tall, two metre long , seventy five kilo, complete with long tusks, boar.

"Stampede!" I yelled and veered off to my left out of the way of the stampede. Kaia followed me but Caden and Jett both had to run in to opposite direction because the stampede was coming right down in between us. Kaia and I kept running for as long as it took for the sound of the stampede to die away and by the time we stopped Caden and Jett were nowhere to be seen.

"How are we going to find them?" Kaia asked as we wondered back in what we guessed was the direction we had come from.

"Luck," I added pessimistically because honestly it was the only thing I could think of. I was pretty sure I could find my way back to the crevice but they might stay out here looking for us or they might get lost, there were just too many mights. Eventually we came to a clearing and since we hadn't got to sop for lunch before Kaia and I figured we might as well eat now while we had the chance. We ate in silence, both of us too nervous to bother with small talk. Not only was there the problem of finding Jett and Caden but with just Kaia and I together, we were possibly two of the smallest tributes still alive, besides Porter and Serenity obviously, and there was a very high chance that we would not be able to fight off any attackers. Lunch came and went and we still had no sign of either of the boys, and I'm not going to lie I was starting to freak out a little bit.

"I think we should just head back to the crevice," I said to Kaia as we packed up our packs, "that's the only place they'll know where to find us."

Kaia shrugged, "Good idea, even though we would have completely wasted a day."

"I know, but we don't have many more options left."

Kaia threw her orange pack that she had had with her yesterday when we found her on to her back and led the way out of the clearing. I was just finishing stuffing the last few things into my pack and about to swing it onto my back when it hit something as I threw it over one of my shoulders. I was about to turn around and see what it was when I felt something sharp prick against my throat. I looked down and saw a long, thin hand expertly holding a knife up against my throat. I tried to remind myself to breathe as I started freaking out and thinking back to the hand on hand combat we learnt in the training centre, before my attacker spoke.

"My dear Eora," whispered an unmistakable voice into my ear, "I am so glad to see you again."

Oh. Crap.


	27. Numb

**Hello everyone! Wow these last two chapters have been long. Don't get too used to it everything's just starting to heat up so the chapters are growing in length, at least that's some justification for my delayed updating :S Anywho I just wanted to make another quick thankyou to all my lovely reviewers: ****charneybex, PolicyofTuth, jabberjay21, hockeygirlxox, lapislazuliie, Take Life's Chances, GodricsRanger, Ilovebooks-122798, Sonofhell666, EmoxButterfly, CamillaAsgreen and Cloud-Lover26**

**I would thank you ALL, my readers by name but I don't know them so thankyou to you as a whole anyway!**

**xxC**

Numb

I refused to move, refused to acknowledge that this was actually happening to me, fought the urge to scream bloody murder and cry and kick and squirm and do all the things that instinctively my body was telling me to do. Instead I listened to the rational part of my brain, the part that was saying, _he has a knife to your throat you idiot. Stay still, shut up and do whatever he says and when you see an opening, run._ Kaia still hadn't noticed anything yet, and from all I had seen and noted in the training centre and the arena, wherever Sylas was, who was at this point holding a dagger to my neck, Angora was not far behind.

"Kaia," I said, managing to keep my voice remarkably strong, considering the position I was in, "Run."

She turned around with a look of puzzlement on her face, but as soon as she saw me, and Sylas, it turned into a look of complete terror. She froze on the spot, like she couldn't accept what she was staring at any more than I could believe the position I'd managed to get myself into.

"Now," I added just for emphasis, and to snap her out of whatever trance she was in. She didn't need to be reminded twice. She hightailed it in the complete opposite direction of me, running as fast as she could into the forest surrounding her. I turned my head an inch so I could see Sylas as he gave a small nod towards the place where Kaia had used to stand. I couldn't move very far because, you know, knife to throat and all, so I hadn't even noticed Angora until she started walking at a relatively steady pace, following in the direction that Kaia had sped off in. Well, hate to say I told you so. Isn't it great when I'm right?

"Hmm there's three of you working together," Sylas sneered, "Guess it was lucky she was with you or we could have been in for a surprise. No matter," he walked around so he was facing me, never letting the knife retreat even a millimetre. Up close he resembled a snake even more than he did from far away. His jet black hair was thin and straight, but was cut army-length short. His eyes were narrow slits and his irises were such a dark brown that they almost seemed to blend in with his pupils. His face lacked any kind of defining feature, he didn't have a strong jaw-line or high cheekbones, yet his face seemed hard and cold. Standing straight at full height he was only maybe an inch taller than I was and he wasn't physically much bigger than I was either, "Our plan went down with absolutely no problems, and here you are."

"Lucky you," I said coldly, and that rational part of my brain I had been listening to before started cursing all kind of horrible things at me for the excess sarcasm that was dripping from my words.

A thin, creepy smile spread across his slim, pale lips, "Lucky me indeed. I had always hoped you and I would be better acquainted."

"Shame I couldn't reciprocate the feeling, who knows we could have been best buddies." _Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. _Oh well, I guess if I was going to go down I might as well do it fighting.

The smile kept growing on his lips, "You're awfully brave for someone standing with a knife to her throat. Brave? Or stupid?"

I raised my eyebrows, "Neither," I said in an uninterested tone, I had to admit I was marvelling at my ability to hide the complete and utter dread that I was _actually_ feeling, "I'm just bored and am waiting for you to act. Come on, man up and do it already?"

He inched his face closer to mine, "Do what my lovely?" he hissed.

I did my best to restrain from convulsing and managed to pull my head back away from his without getting myself killed. "Seriously? Don't tell me you don't know how to use the knife? I can give you a demo if you'd like, it's pretty simple." I slowly tried to move my hand up from its resting position towards the knife tucked in at my waist, without drawing Sylas' attention.

He laughed, a cold, malicious sound horrible enough to chill me to the bone, "You don't think I set this all up _just_ to kill you do you?" He said as he laughed, and I imagine my exterior bravado faltered a little as I started to think up all the horrible, torturous things he was going to do to me. "No I have bigger fish to fry."

"A fish analogy, from a District Four tribute," I snickered, "Really?"

He tsked, "Didn't they teach you that it's not smart to mock your captors in District Twelve. Shame, it was basically all I learnt," I barely stopped myself from snorting, yeah right that was all he learnt, "Oh and by the way, once your hand does reach the knife at your waist I'd advise you to simply drop it on the ground. I could finish you off in half the time it would take you to unlatch it from your pants," he said without his eyes ever leaving mine. Damn, I hadn't even seen him look down and notice me. I sighed as I unhooked the two knives I carried from my waist and dropped them to the ground. Ok, plan B anyone?

I glared at him, "Tell me this Sylas how does one turn into one of the most soulless, horrific, malevolent human beings on the planet? I mean I've always wanted to know, and you know, speaking from your own firsthand experience I'm sure you can enlighten me."

He grinned wickedly at me, before acting hurt, "Now I am offended that you would be so quick to judge me and stereotype me Eora. You don't know me. For all you know I could be the very embodiment of saint."

This time I couldn't help but scoff, "Yeah and I'm the President's mother. Good to know we've established that."

"No really. I mean for all you know I could have a chronically sick baby sister and I'm simply doing my darndest to get back and provide a lifeline for her. Or even have an abusive father who beats my mother and I need to win to get back and save her. Ever think of that?" He questioned, and I had to admit he had a point. I mean, not with him of course, if anything he was the very embodiment of everything that was wrong with the world, but for everyone else. Maybe some of the other tributes had just as good reasons as me to get back home.

"Yeah, however you volunteered. If your sick sister and your domestically abused mother need you so badly why would you leave?" Ha, finally outsmarted him. I hope someone was recording that because I doubt it will ever happen again. Who was I kidding, of course someone was recording this, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if every screen I Panem was on me right now.

He continued on with his facade, "But maybe I need the money. Maybe the riches and the fame are the only things that could save me and my family from the horrid world in which we live."

I rolled my eyes, "Nice try, you can try and lie to me to justify your past and future actions but to me you are, and will always be, the absolute scum of the earth."

He laughed again, "That's rich coming from a tribute from twelve."

I glowered at him, "Now who is stereotyping?" Career tributes always had an air of superiority over the other tributes, but my district, district twelve, has always been the poorest and most ridiculed of all of them. Mind you, there are some advantages, even if the majority of us do live in poverty.

The two of us stood silently sizing each other up for a while, I was trying my hardest not to let the terror I was actually feeling show on my face and Sylas was trying to break me with his cold, hard glare. I mean, this was the first time I had really had to stare someone right in the face and accept that I could very easily die right here and now. It wasn't exactly an enjoyable or relaxing experience but perhaps a little humbling, not to mention it scared the hell out of me. I wasn't ready to die yet. There was still so much I had left to live for, so much I had never figured out. Then again, would I ever really be ready to die? Maybe I needed to follow Kaia's lead and write a list.

I decided I might as well get in as many shots as I could before he decided he was done with me, "Where's the rest of your pack?" I jeered, "Don't tell me you're actually brave enough to fight on an even playing field?"

He grinned, "Velvet and Dahlia are on the other side of the hillside, just a call away if we need them," he said his eyes flicking down to a small communication device attached to his belt, "Angora and I decided that the others probably wouldn't approve of our...actions, but we knew they were the smartest and most efficient way to end this thing."

I gasped with mock horror, "Oh! Don't tell me holding someone hostage for an unknown reason is now something deplorable! What has the world come to? Who knows, maybe next ensnaring someone and using them as bait will be frowned upon too?" I thought I might as well throw that one in there and maybe it would take him off guard.

No such luck. His evil grin simply widened as understanding lit up his face, "I wondered who it was that had released my prey. Well know we know. If you don't mind me asking, who was it I had caught?"

No point in hiding it from him, "Serenity, the little twelve year old from three." Maybe the fact that he had caught Serenity would plague his conscience. Long shot.

He sighed in longing, "Shame, such a small catch would have been great for attracting a larger one. Oh well."

Great more fish analogies. This was quite genuinely starting to bore me.

"What is it you actually want Sylas?" I said blandly.

"Oh how rude of me did I not explain," his evil smirk completely overtaking the expression on his face, "I'm sorry it's just you are such a fascinating creature. Not overly impressive to look at, but what you lack in physical strength you make up for in wit and charm. It's almost refreshing to have a sophisticated conversation with someone after spending so much time with that horrid, dull pair from two and that ridiculously ditsy blonde from one."

"Yes, it's _such_ a relief my extensive amount of attributes attract such quality admirers," I said ironically.

He laughed, "How you _despise_ me. It is almost humorous. But then again, you may find me, what was it, 'the scum of the earth' but at least _my_ intentions have always been clear."

Ok this time I was going to bite, "Care to explain."

"Well you never doubted what it was I aimed for. I want to win. I want to be the victor of the fifty-eight Hunger Games, no matter the cost. But what about everyone else hmm? You might hate me but I'm the only person who's been in any way honest with you. Think about it, who else has been? Jett? What are his motives? Why does he want to spend so much time around you? What was it about you that attracted him towards an alliance? Is he really trustworthy, considering the game we're all playing? And then there's that other girl who was with you before, what did you call her again, Kaia? Why did she ally with you? What measures is she willing to take to win? And even that boy from your district, where did he come from? For someone who obviously has some attachment to you what are his motives? How did he score a ten in training if he was completely untrained? And where has he been during the games? I'm willing to bet that you haven't seen him since the night before we came into the arena. So really Eora, am I so bad? At least you know what I'll do, for know I'm predictable. It's those who are _un_predictable that you need to watch out for."

Much to my delight, I actually knew the answers to most of those questions. Well none of the ones to do with Jett, but almost all of the others I had decent answers for. And to my even greater joy, it appeared Sylas had no idea that I had actually spent nearly every minute or every day with Caden since we entered this damned arena. Score one for Eora.

I decided not to let him in on those facts just yet and play along. I pretended to act a little deflated before regrouping, "That was an awful lot of rambling and yet somehow you managed to not answer my question. What do you want? For goodness sake just kill me and be done with it if you must, lest you bore me to death with your conversation."

He laughed, "It's a shame you're so useful my dear Eora or I would quite enjoy keeping you around for longer. Like I said, I have no interest in killing you...yet. In fact the reason I haven't harmed a hair on your head is because I'm waiting for your tall, blonde, handsome protector to arrive and save you."

Oh. Now it started making sense. I should have figured it out earlier; I mean he had used this tactic before. It wasn't me he wanted. I was just the bait for a bigger, shinier prize that he wouldn't be able to take down without some leverage. Obviously everyone had already figured out that Jett and I had planned to ally together and now Sylas was using that information to try and get Jett in a vulnerable position.

"Well you could have just gutted me and sat around and waited as Jett came to find me," I added, realising that putting ideas like that in his head probably wasn't my brightest moment.

Sylas had obviously already considered that because the idea set his face alight with a malicious glee, "A possibility yes, but I find it's always so much more fun to fish with live bait."

"How so?"

"Well," he said, drawing another knife from inside his jacket pocket, "For one, it always seems to attract the fish faster." He grabbed my left wrist with the hand that wasn't holding a knife to my throat and lightly pressed the tip of the second blade against the soft skin of my inner forearm. I was quite proud of myself for ignoring the sharp pain in my wrist has he lightly dug the tip of knife into my skin, "Now you can scream all on your own or," he slowly moved the knife tip across my skin, "we can do this the slow way."

I refused to look him in the eye, one because I didn't want to look at the sadistic expression on his face and two because I was not going to submit to him. He could bleed me as much as he wanted but I was not going to scream, or cry, or beg for someone to come save me. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary I am not, and have never been, any kind of damsel in distress. I was never going to yell and holler for prince charming, or in this instance Jett, to come save me. That and I would never be able to stand tall knowing I had let this asshole get the best of me. So even as his knife blade cut deeper and deeper into my skin and I could feel my blood dripping down across my forearm I refused to acknowledge the pain and scream like he wanted me to. Stay numb. Stay unfeeling. You might just die with some dignity.

"Let her go Sylas," Jett said as he walked out into the clearing. Wow, shows you how bright I was I didn't even see him coming towards us. He was about ten metres away and was holding his shoge out in front of him in a defensive position. Sylas, who was at that point facing away from him, turned back around so he was using me as a human shield, his arm curled around my neck so he could press his knife against my throat and I barely even felt the small sharp pain in my neck as it drew blood.

"Uh-uh-uh I don't think so," Sylas said scathingly, "If you want your girlfriend to be able to walk away from this you won't take one more single step towards us. Otherwise," he dug the knife deeper into my throat and even though it hurt I managed not to flinch, "Now put down the weird, knifey-thing."

Jett looked at me warily and I had to give him a tiny nod before he crouched down and put his shoge on the ground. He looked back up and quickly made eye contact with me again, like he was trying to say something to me.

"What do you want Sylas?" Jett yelled across the space furiously, it was obvious it wasn't easy for him to stand there unarmed like that.

Sylas shrugged, "Nothing overly dramatic. Just a simple exchange. _You_ for _her_."

Jett frowned, "Why do you think I would agree to that?"

"She_ is_ your partner," Sylas said with malicious glee, "And it's not like you couldn't have found a better one, if you'd been thinking strategically. So obviously when you chose her as your partner it wasn't for strategic reasons at all," he grinned devilishly and Jett did his best to stay unaffected, although his cheeks did redden a shade or two, "Not to mention you just disarmed yourself to save her. If you didn't care about whether she lived or died you would have just used the advantage you had over me and taken me out while you had the chance, even if it meant a small sacrifice on Eora's part."

"And so what?" Jett countered, "You made up this whole elaborate scheme just because you couldn't beat me in a fair fight?"

Sylas laughed and once again it chilled me to the bone, "In essence, yes."

"Coward," Jett spat, "Come on, man up. Let her go and let's finish this one on one, you and me, on even an even playing field."

Sylas scoffed, "Unfortunately for you, not only do I lack the essential pigheadedness and pride that are so often a man's downfall when he is insulted, but I also lack the distinct moral code that the 'knight in shining armour' types like yourself tend to value. I'm a practical being. I will use whatever methods are the simplest and fastest to achieve success. So," he got his second knife and ran it down my left jaw line leaving a thin line of blood, this time remaining emotionless was a little harder and I think I didn't quite manage to contain a small stifled choke of pain as the knife cut into my skin, "what'll it be?"

Jett looked back from Sylas to me, appearing conflicted and then over into the distance behind me as he considered his options. Maybe it was time to perk up a little.

"Jett," I said solidly as his resolve started to falter, "No." It wasn't a plea, it was a statement.

Sylas pressed the knife into my neck harder as he whispered a "Shhh" into my ear. Jett slowly walked towards us, one step at a time, with his hands up where Sylas could see them. "That's right," Sylas encouraged as Jett came closer and closer to his death. No. I had to do _something_. I was not going to stand here and just be bait. Think Eora...nothing. Great.

I heard a small rustling from behind us but obviously I couldn't turn around to see what it was. Sylas however did and that was all Jett needed. He turned back around, dived onto the ground and picked up his shoge. He turned back towards us but by the time he had Sylas was back around and had seen what had happened. From what seemed like out of nowhere Sylas' hands moved in blur and all of a sudden a small sharp edged disc flew towards Jett, missing him by millimetres only because he flinched out of the way. Well, at least now I knew who had thrown that disc at me in the bloodbath. Should have guessed I suppose.

Sylas' face contorted in a snarling rage. He kept his first knife pressed against my throat but the second he moved slowly down towards my abdomen, hovering inches above where my stab wound was.

"I think this is where Velvet said it was," he snarled, his face distorted in a perverse smirk and he lifted the knife up, preparing to plunge it into my skin. I took a short sharp breath, bracing myself for the approaching pain, but it never arrived. Instead, a horrible, choking sound slipped out from Sylas' lips and his hand froze in its position above my abdomen. The pressure of his knife against my abdomen eased and his body went limp behind me. I took the chance I had and stepped out of his reach, turning around to see what had happened and gasped at the sight before my eyes. Sylas was barely standing, his horrid face twisted in agony, and the tip of a sword protruding out from his rib cage which was quickly becoming redder and redder as the blood flowed out from his wound. I could barely take my eyes away from his, his almost black irises remaining hate-filled and vicious even on the brink of death; in fact I don't think I would have even noticed the wielder of the weapon if it had been anyone else. Caden's face was lined with rage and revulsion as he stood behind Sylas, glaring at him even after completely running him through with his sword. I was almost horrified at the intensity of the hatred with which Caden looked down at the dying boy on his sword, mind you I imagine if I was Caden I would still be hacking into Sylas' mangled body until he had wished he had never been born, but that's just me.

Caden pulled his sword out of Sylas, who, without the sword to hold his weight, fell immediately onto the soft spring grass on which he had previously stood. The grass quickly became red as his blood pooled around him. After what seemed like a ridiculously long time, considering all the blood he was losing, we finally heard the cannon sound. Sylas was dead.

Not one of us had moved since Caden had run Sylas through with his sword. Jett was sitting on the ground a few metres behind me silently and Caden was still puffing heavily, glaring hatefully down at Sylas' lifeless body. I was kneeling a few metres from Sylas' corpse and couldn't take my gaze away from Caden, couldn't shake my surprise at seeing such an ugly and horrible expression on Caden's gorgeous face. Eventually he turned and looked over at me, still panting with rage. The horror on my face must have been pretty evident because the fury and loathing evaporated from his face replaced by shock and dismay and he quickly threw done the sword that had been in his hands and stepped back away from it like it would bite him. I quickly got to me feet and was about to apologise, about to comfort Caden, reassure him that he did the right thing, when he heard the sound of someone bashing through the surrounding forest. Jett was quickly up on his feet and was next to the two of us in an instant, shoge in hand, facing the sound. Caden was still looking down at his sword in disgust so I picked it up for him and put it in his hands. When he looked at me with despairing look in his eyes I gave a tight smile and a little nod, before looking towards the oncoming person. I felt anxiousness rise in my stomach as we waited to see who it was that was coming towards us.

Kaia emerged from the trees into the clearing, her face as red as a beetroot and her dark hair in an unruly, windblown mess around her face. As soon as she was behind the three of us she doubled over and started heaving in deep lungfuls of air.

"Angora," he wheezed once she had regained a little bit of her breath, "Coming."

The three of us turned back around to the part of the forest that Kaia had emerged from and braced ourselves. Angora wasn't far behind, maybe only a minute or two. She stormed into the clearing powerfully before stopping completely in her tracks when she saw the three of us, all armed and waiting for her. I wish I had had a camera to catch the look of surprise on her face when she saw us because I was almost certain I was never going to see it again. She looked around in dismay before she saw Sylas' lifeless corpse a few metres behind us. As she took in the sight of her training partner's dead body her face starting warping in rage and she roared and moved towards us, her giant arm reaching around behind her back to grab some kind of weapon. I was about to step forward to embrace the attack but Jett held a steady grip on the back of my singlet.

"Are you sure you want to do that Angora?" he asked calmly, "There's four of us and one of you. Now we all know you're good, but the question is are you good enough to take on four against one odds and win?"

Angora stopped again. She looked at Jett with loathing but then she noticed the blood stained sword in Caden's hands and her hatred transferred solely to him. It was almost like Kaia, Jett and I didn't even exist to her any more, the only person she could see was Caden and I imagine she was dreaming of a whole array of painful ways to kill him in her head.

"Now you have two options," Jett continued, not being thrown by the fact that Angora didn't even seem to acknowledge his existence anymore, "One, you can fight against all four of us and probably die. Or two, you can leave now and live a little while longer."

She looked like she was fighting inside herself as she glared at Caden with vengeful longing, like she couldn't bear to leave without ripping someone's head off. But eventually the logic seemed to make its way through her thick skull and into her pea sized brain and she turned around and high-tailed it as far away from the four of us as possible.

It was mid afternoon by the time Angora had left and the four of us decided, well really Kaia suggested and Jett and I agreed, that we should head back to the crevice before it got dark and we couldn't find our way back. While Kaia's logic was sound, what really got it for me was that Velvet and Dahlia were out on the hillside as well and while Angora might not want to fight us four on one, three on one might be enough to make her reconsider. The four of us walked back in silence, all too exhausted to speak, until I decided I needed to piece a few things together.

"Hey Jett," I asked lightly, "How did you two find me? I mean after that stampede Kaia and I looked for you guys but there was no sign of you."

"We decided just to follow in the direction that you two had run off in and hope for the best," Jett said with a shrug, "That was until Caden heard you and Sylas talking. We knew we had to come up with some kind of plan to get you out so we decided to split up. Originally Caden was going to be the distraction and I was going to take out Sylas, what with my weapon being long range and whatever, but then we heard Sylas talking about me so we switched."

I wasn't going to complain about their lack of concrete plan because, well, it worked didn't it?

That was the extent of all the conversation the four of us had the entire trip back to the crevice. I had looked over at Caden several times while walking back but he was making a deliberate effort not to look at me for some reason. Kaia was absolutely exhausted, she had been outrunning Angora the whole time Sylas had me hostage and Jett was uncharacteristically quiet and tired. Me, I was recovering from the shock of surviving and the adrenaline withdrawal. Looking back at everything I said and did while Sylas had me I felt a mixture of pride and disbelief. Did I really say those things? Was I really that sharp-witted when possibly the evilest human being on the planet had a knife to my throat? Sylas was right, was I brave or was I very stupid? I didn't know.

Once we got back to the crevice I dumped my pack on the ground and lay down on the ground with a comforted sigh ad did Kaia and Jett. Caden however threw his back pack on the floor of the crevice and turned around and walked back out the entrance of the crevice. I was about to get up and go see what was the matter with him but Kaia quickly said, "Just let him be Eora. He'll be okay."

"I hope so," I sighed and sat back down. Now that all the adrenaline had completely removed itself from my system all the cuts and gashes along my arms and jaw hurt much more than they had before. I winced as I lightly brushed my fingers along a deep gash in my inner wrist, which unfortunately Jett saw. He got up and collected to suture kit as well as a water flask before sitting down next to me.

"Really they're ok," I protested, mostly because I really didn't want to have to have stitches again.

Jett smiled, "I'll be the judge of that."

He examined all my cuts and gashes and cleaned them with water and brushed wet bandages across the not so bad ones with a feather like touch. Luckily he didn't have to stitch up any of them but he did bandage up my wrists to stop the worse ones from getting infected. He also took off my silver and sapphire bracelet that Macie had given me, the one with my white ribbon Alara gave me lacquered down onto it, and cleaned all the blood off it before putting it back on my left wrist.

"Something that beautiful shouldn't have to carry battle wounds," he said when I raised my eyebrow at his gesture.

I smiled and thanked him but out of the corner of my eye I saw a silver parachute floating down behind him. I grabbed his shirt and turned him around so he could see it and moved over towards it.

"You can open it," I said gesturing towards a huge picnic basket that had been attached to the parachute.

"Don't mind if I do," he said and as he went to open it Kaia came up to stand behind the two of us. Inside was so much food it made my stomach rumble just looking at it. There were dozens of small bread rolls, a pot of soup, some cheese, some juicy looking meat and some milk in a carton. It was almost all I could do not to dig right in there and then, fighting for the scraps.

"I'm suddenly ridiculously hungry," Kaia said longingly, "I think its dinner time don't you?"

"Definitely," I agreed.

"You go get Caden, Kaia, and we'll start rationing out this food," Jett said as he picked up the picnic basket delicately.

Kaia nodded and ran outside to get Caden. They were back in a second but Caden didn't look any happier than before. My sudden famine overrode my concern so as soon as Jett and I had finished rationing out the food we all dug in and didn't say another word. I ate until I felt like I would never be able to eat anything every again and even then I kept eating. I quite literally stuffed myself full; all of us did, except Caden who ate tentatively considering the feast in front of him, but even then we had some leftovers. Haymitch hadn't disappointed. He couldn't have picked a better day to send us this amazing spread of food. Maybe the old drunkard actually did know what he was doing after all. I made a metal note to reprieve him of the stereotypes I had assigned to him if I ever saw him again and apologise for yelling at him, repeatedly.

We had quite literally all just finished when we heard the anthem sounding outside. We all looked at each other before getting up and rushing outside. This was probably the first time I was actually excited to look up into the sky, knowing exactly who it was whose face was going to show up, and feeling ecstatic at the prospect.

When I saw Sylas' picture in the sky I nearly yelled in triumph. It might have been Caden who finished him off but for me, I felt a strong sense of satisfaction in knowing that the son of a bitch was happily in his grave, well not technically he wouldn't be in his grave yet but you know what I mean. What I wasn't prepared for was to see the boy from six's face up there after Sylas'. We hadn't even heard his cannon. Donavon, that was his name I think. After Sylas' menacing face, Donavon looked like a happy, normal kid. Not a dead boy. Whatever happiness I felt at Sylas' death was removed as I remembered all the other horrible things foreboding. Great. After Donavon's face disappeared the seal came back on and then when the anthem finished the sky was clear again.

"I didn't hear a second cannon," Jett admitted, "Did any of you?"

"Nope," Kaia said as she headed back in side.

"Me neither," I added, "We must have been too far away to hear it."

"Maybe," Jett said but he sounded doubtful. He followed Kaia back through the entrance to the crevice and I followed him, until I realised there was no one following me. I turned back around and saw Caden standing away from me, his body stiff as he looked out towards the trees surrounding him. I checked to make sure Jett wasn't waiting for me before turning back and walking quietly up behind Caden.

"Caden," I said softly, "I know you're mad, or upset or something...but I...I just wanted to-"

I don't really know what I was going to say but I didn't get to say it. In an instant Caden had turned around, grabbed the front of my shirt, pulled me towards him and kissed me. He pressed his lips against mine, softly at first, but then with more desperation and he cupped my face in his hands. At first my eyes were wide with shock, taken completely off guard again, but soon my arms were around his neck and I closed my eyes as I began to kiss him back with equal enthusiasm. Damn it, how did this keep happening to me? And why did I keep kissing him back? I could hear my mind protesting but once again I just completely ignored the rational half of my brain and acted on an impulse I couldn't control. Eventually I snapped out of it and slowly tore my lips away from his but didn't move any further away. His hands were around my waist and mine on his shoulder and our foreheads were pressed together.

"Please," he pleaded his eyes closed as he rested his forehead against mine, not able to find the words he was looking for, "Please don't...please try...you can't...I can't...please, you can't die. If you did...I don't know how...I wouldn't be able to..."

"I know," I whispered softly, "I know."

"Promise me you won't leave me here," he begged, pulling me closer to him.

"I wish I could," I couldn't hide the sadness in my voice no matter how hard I tried. He didn't press it any further, we just stayed as we were for god knows how long. And we probably would have stayed like that longer if we hadn't heard a distinct "Ah hem," coming from behind us.

We quickly stepped apart from each other before turning around to see Kaia standing outside the entrance to the crevice, one hand on her hip, with a devious smirk on her face.

"Jett said he'd take first watch," she said with mock seriousness, "So you guys can come inside now."

We stood awkwardly before Caden moved to go inside. He smiled at me a little before walking past Kaia and into the crevice. I went to follow him and Kaia grinned at me with a wink.

"What?" I asked her.

She laughed and gave an smiled mischievously, "Nothing."

**Well... R&R please everyone! Till next time!**


	28. Devils and Monsters

Devils and Monsters

If anyone else has ever bragged that they knew what the worst way to wake up in the morning is, they lied. I'm pretty damn sure that the way I woke up on day six of the fifty-eighth hunger games pretty much tops the list. Picture it, you've been asleep for all of three hours, because you had to wake up in the middle of the night to take your shift keeping watch outside the tiny crevice you've taken residence in for the past five nights. Holy hell has it been five nights already? Wow, time flies when you're constantly running away from death and fighting for your life. But that's beside the point. So like I said, you got woken up in the middle of the night because you had the second watch shift. You unwillingly crawl out of the perfectly comfortable and snugly sleeping bag that you were sharing with another girl approximately your size to go sit out in the damp, muggy, supposedly summery air. And surprise, surprise, absolutely nothing happens.

You begin cursing, loudly, disregarding the fact that anyone within a three mile radius, including the three friends sleeping ten metres behind you, will be able to hear you. But that's kind of the point, if they weren't all such paranoid, suspicious, apprehensive pains in the ass you wouldn't have had to get up and guard anyway and you still would have been perfectly fine. Then of course one of your allies, who despite all the karma in the world looks ridiculously good after he has just woken up, with his short, dark hair all tussled and his perfectly blue eyes shining in the pale moonlight (Urgh...look at me. Insert gagging sounds here), wakes up and offers to take over his shift early. And you start mentally cursing yourself not only for being the biggest bitch in the world but for managing to end up in the Hunger Games with possibly the only guy who comes close to perfection in the entire world. I mean life is so horribly, cosmically unfair. Just look at the guy, he's smart and unnaturally sweet and ridiculously good-looking and...I've forgotten my point...how the hell did my thought process end here again?

Oh that's right, the worst way to wake up. Got it. So like I was saying your ally, your hypothetical ally who's personality and physical characteristics are irrelevant, takes over your shift and you return to your sleeping bag which at this time in the night is pretty much heaven on earth. And you sleep restlessly for a little less than three hours, before you wake up to debatably the worst sentence to wake up to, ever.

"We need to move. Now."

Like I said, not exactly the way I enjoy starting the day.

I think I got up faster than I had before in my entire life. I was up and out of that sleeping bag in quite literally less than a heartbeat. Caden and Jett were quickly moving around the base of the crevice, collecting up all our lose items and throwing them into the packs. Kaia was standing over me, she had been the one to wake me up, but as soon as she realised I was up and ready to move she joined the boys collecting stuff. I began to help as well before I realised I didn't actually know what it was we were apparently running from.

"What's going-" I began to hiss into Jett's ear as he stumbled past me before he quickly pulled me in close and gagged me by putting a hand over my mouth. When it was so silent that you could have heard a damn feather hit the ground he released me before pressing his index finger to his lips and mouthing the word, 'Careers.'

Oh. Shit.

How could this happen _again_? How does one human being end up trapped in a crevice while a pack of bloodthirsty, pubescent adolescents waits outside to kill you, _twice_? Wait, let me rephrase that, how does one human being end up trapped in _the same crevice_ twice? Let me tell you it took all my self restraint not to start hurling curses at lady luck or whoever it was that controlled fate because believe me, no one but me could end up in this situation more than once. Once we had done an acceptable job of gathering up all our crap we all pressed or backs against the far wall of the crevice and began saying our prayers, which you could argue was ironic considering I was just swearing at whatever higher power there is for being such an asshole but hey, desperate times, desperate measures and what not. For a good few minutes there was absolutely no sound coming from anywhere, especially not any of us, and I was almost about to slap all three of them for pulling a false alarm on me when I heard the faint murmur of voices coming from behind me.

"...sure?...could have moved...stupid...worth it?"

The voice sounded female but considering I was only getting pieces I could have been wrong.

"...course," came the angelic sounding response. That voice was unmistakable, even from a distance. I grabbed the dagger at my belt and nearly left my hiding position but Jett held on to my wrist with an iron grip. I glared at him, my thirst for revenge overpowering my rational thought. _Not now_ he mouthed and I sighed lightly. He was right, this wasn't the time. But it was coming. Someday soon, I'd get Velvet back, whether it was tomorrow, the day after or the week after didn't matter; it was still going to feel bloody good. But I couldn't dwell on my slightly sardonic aspirations for long because the fragments of conversation were still drifting through the air. " ...four of...can't ignore...threat...strike fast..."

"...weapons...district twelve...no chance," said a voice I hadn't heard before. A male voice. Well, considering voice two was Velvet you'd have to guess that the first speaker was Dahlia and that made the male voice Tripp, that is if the career pack were still actually a pack. Which meant that Angora probably wasn't far away either. Brilliant. I'd bet she's in a great mood after we killed the guy she's spent basically her entire life training with yesterday.

"...cocky...Sylas...outsmarted...unprepared...underestimated..." was Dahlia's response. Was that a quiver of fear I detected in her normally conceited and arrogant tone. Hmmm suddenly my confidence level sky rocketed.

Even through the distance I could hear Velvet's laughter, light and amused, like someone had just told her an incredibly entertaining joke. Is it a bad thing when even the sound of one specific person's voice is so maddeningly infuriating to you that you want to bash your own skull in with a rock? No? Just checking.

"...overreacting...unlucky..." Velvet reassured once she had finished laughing. Man I couldn't see her but I could practically _hear _the self-satisfied smile on her perfect face and it was all I could do not to walk out there and backhand it off.

"Angora?" I heard Dahlia ask, that slight waver in her voice still there. I guessed from the disconnected conversation I was hearing that they were probably a good fifty metres away from us. Far enough away that we could run without get caught strait off, but not far enough away that they wouldn't see the four of us running for dear life into the woods.

Angora's voice isn't exactly loud and clear even when you're up close so I was kind of expecting not to hear her response at all but I guess she must have been pretty much shouting because I did manage to catch a few words, "...killed Sylas...payback..._mine_."

That sentence wasn't exactly hard to decode. I was right, she was _pissed_. And if the thought of Angora being hell bent on trying to kill you wasn't the scariest thing you've ever heard in your entire life, then you must have had some shit scary events in your life.

I waited for someone else to talk again but I got nothing. And I waited. And waited. And _waited_. And nothing. They were gone.

I let out a sigh of relief before peeling myself from the shadowed wall and turning around to face Jett, Kaia and Caden.

"That is the second time those four have come _way_ to close to finding us," I said, "I would really like it for there not to be a third time, lest I die of heart failure."

"Agreed," Kaia seconded with a nod.

Jett looked around the crevice, "I think it's time we leave this shelter. I mean it's been good for hiding out these first few days but now that we're getting down to the business end of this thing I think it's time we start getting more involved." He shivered for a second, "Plus, I'm beginning to feel claustrophobic in here. There's really no escape exits besides the two side entrances. If they were blocked off we'd be completely screwed."

I looked around at the crevice. I knew Jett had a point but...I didn't want to leave. I was almost into a routine now. I'd go outside in the morning, I'd hunt, something bad and unexpected would happen but we'd always come back to the crevice and it would be all better the next day. And I think I had held onto that idea, that no matter what happened in the day, at night we'd have a place of our own to hide from whatever was happening on the outside. If it was possible to have a place inside the arena, this was mine, this was my place. Well actually not just mine. I turned to look at Caden but he was looking at the ground. Did he feel it too, this absurd connection to a rock formation? He had to. These walls held more of our past, more of our secrets than any other place could have possibly held in five short days. So much had happened to the two us in here, so many unforgettable, life changing things. Explanations, confessions, kisses-whoa, stop right there, this is not a time to reminisce, this is serious, this is survival. I almost wouldn't know what else to do if we weren't going to come back to this place. I continued to watch Caden even though he was doing a very good job of pretending he didn't know I was looking at him.

"What about you?" I asked, in a voice that was a little bit harsher than I had intended, "What do you think?"

He looked up from the ground but made a deliberate attempt not to look at me, instead looking aimlessly around the crevice.

He shrugged, "We've probably stayed here too long anyway. Maybe we should go."

Fine. If he was so willing to leave this place and whatever it represented, I wasn't going to stop him. If they all wanted to leave, so be it.

Kaia, who had an awful lot of energy for this time in the morning, swung one of the packs onto her back, "Then let's get going."

I gave a curt nod before following her example. I pulled out four of the spare bread rolls and handed one to each of them before eating the last one myself. I had decided it was good to stagger food intake in the morning so you had energy all throughout the morning rather than just in the short burst after breakfast and the rolls would be enough to tire us over for an hour or so. Once we had all our gear packed up and we all had a pack, Caden had the big one we had found on day one, I had the small one, Jett had the tent pack he had taken from the careers the day he killed Delaine and Kaia had the small green one she had picked up in the bloodbath, we were just about to start off when Jett stopped us with a "Oh!" We all turned to look at him as he drew out his huge machete from his belt and handed it to Kaia.

Her face as she took in the sight of the giant knife was absolutely priceless. Something in the middle of shock, incredulous disbelief and revulsion.

"You want _me_ to use _that_?" her tone was incredibly sceptical.

Jett laughed a little, "Well I've got my shoge, Eora's all geared up with her four knives, Caden's ready to hack of heads with his massive broadsword. The three of us are good. You're the one who needs it."

She just looked at him, "You want _me_ to use _that_?"

He sighed, "Yes."

She took one more doubtful look at the machete before half heartedly taking the handle from him. She watched it carefully as she tucked it into her waist before looking back up at Jett.

"Just so you know, I wouldn't know how to use that thing if my life depended on it."

Jett laughed but Caden was the one to interrupt with the sentence we were all thinking.

"Be careful what you say. Your life might just depend on it soon enough."

Kaia gave a half smile, "Let's hope not then."

And then she walked out of the crevice without a second glance. Jett followed quickly behind her but I had to look back at the empty shelter one last time. Great, another last. My list of lasts was getting progressively longer. Maybe I should adopt Kaia's strategy of finding firsts, things I'd never done before, because let's face it that's much more healthy than what I was doing. I let out a sigh and tried not to feel like I was making a huge mistake by leaving the comfort and shelter of the crevice, or that I was leaving something behind. Instead I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and sharply turned around ready to leave and never come back...except I ran face first into Caden who was standing silently behind me. He shuffled back awkwardly as I recovered and looked up at him, and he still wouldn't look me in the eye. Confused? Good then I'm not the only one.

"Sorry," he mumbled, averting eye contact, "We should go."

"That's what I was trying to do?" I said icily, before cursing myself again for being a bitch. Breathe Eora, quit overreacting, figure it out. Caden's not the kind of person to just become hostile for no reason. That's you. Something's up.

He ignored my slight and turned around and walked out. I followed quick on his heels and stepped out into the dawn light. This was what...day six now? If Jett's season theory was right that made today the summer day. And who could have guessed? High humidity, hot temperatures, bright light, trademark summer qualities. I'm really more of a spring girl myself. Winter's too cold, summer's too hot, spring for me is pretty much perfect. But if you had to pick the lesser of two evils I'd put winter over summer, because even though it's cold all you have to do in winter is stack on more layers, on days like today you wake up knowing there is going to be absolutely nothing you can do to avoid the assaulting heat that attacks every single cell of your body and makes you want to curl up in a ball and die. We walked for hours in the unbearable heat, each inch of skin drenched in sweat and moisture from the thick, cloggy air surrounding us. We were stopping almost every half hour for a water break and if I didn't need to drink it so bad I would have just tipped my flask over the top of my head felt absolutely euphoric as each individual drop of fresh, cool water trickled down my searing skin. See even the mental image of it wasn't enough to actually cool me down.

Whilst Jett was particularly pleasant to talk to and Kaia was as chirpy as normal Caden barely said a word all morning. When Kaia said she didn't know what durian was when I spotted some on a tree we manage to steer the conversation into the different foods that were available at each of our homes (can you believe neither of them ever had to eat Devon? What I wouldn't have done for that luxury, just the memory of the plastic-y looking meat makes me want to gag). After Kaia had described the cake she had eaten at her mother's digamy we talked about our different schooling systems because neither Jett or I had any clue what a digamy was and we felt kind of like idiots (it's a fancy word for second wedding for those of you who wanted to know but please, how could you expect any normal person to know that. I mean I'd been to one and I still didn't know what it was). And when the heat became so insufferable Kaia, Jett and I had to talk about what we would have done back home to get cool.

"That's easy," Jett said in between slurps of water, "I would have gone to the pool."

I looked at him with ironic disbelief on my face, "You have a pool?"

Jett was quickly on the defensive, "No, I personally don't have a pool but we have a couple of public pools that anyone can go to on a hot day." He took another sip of water, "Why? Don't you guys?"

I looked at Kaia and she looked back at me. We both rolled our eyes.

"Nope," I muttered bitterly as she said, "Keep dreaming rich boy."

"As if," he said with almost disbelief, "So you guys never learnt how to swim?"

"Nup," Kaia responded quickly but when I didn't as well she looked at me with an eyebrow raised.

"Well..." I trailed off, because it probably wasn't such a great idea to say this on live television in front of all of Panem.

"So you do have a pool," Jett said with a devious smile, "wish to retract that rich boy statement?"

"Ok A. I wasn't the one who said it," I defended, "And B. We don't have pools in twelve, but I did learn how to swim."

"How?" Kaia asked, obviously interested.

"Umm...I'd prefer not to say," I stalled, "It's not one hundred percent legal."

"Ooohhh, rebel," Jett said with a devilish grin, "Hot."

I made a rude gesture at him which only made his grin spread wider.

"Oh come on like you never broke a few rules?" I batted my eyelashes at him innocently.

Jett laughed like I had just told a personal joke or something that no one else but him got, "If you get the chance, ask my sisters. They'll tell you a hundred or so stories of me causing havoc around D1."

I ignored the fact that for me to meet his sisters he would have to be dead and just laughed, "Local JD were you? Sorry can't see it."

"What don't I have that delinquent look about me?" he feigned injury.

I smiled again, "It's the blonde hair. Just not a trait I associate with troublemakers."

He faked a gasp, "Stereotyping? You? How juvenile."

I rolled my eyes and ignored him, "What about you Kaia? Have any brushed with the law?"

Kaia looked at her toes and suddenly became very quiet. I had a terrible feeling we had hit a nerve here.

"Yeah...umm...a couple of years back. My brother and I...we were actually held in custody for like...a few days maybe."

I managed to stop my jaw from falling out of its socket. "What? How? Why?"

She took a deep breath but kept her head bent down, "He and I were walking home from the factory this one night, I must have been eleven or so. My brother, Tristan, was almost twenty five at the time. I used to walk up to meet him once he finished work every day but that day he finished late so it was way past dark when we actually started making it home."

Even though she was looking down I could see the pain was still fresh in Kaia's eyes and that this wasn't a memory she had repressed. I guess there was one more thing we both had in common, we both had some battle scars.

"We walked past an alleyway and these two peacekeepers were terrorizing a girl who was maybe a little older than you are now Eora. My brother stepped into the alleyway and tried to tell them to back off and leave her alone. I was so scared I just hid behind him, not really knowing what to do. The peacekeepers didn't appreciate being confronted by a factory worker so they moved towards him. When Tristan saw that they were going to attack his he punched one of them in the face and elbowed the other in the windpipe. They were down, but only for a second and as soon as they managed to get back up the punched and kicked Tristan till they had him subdued and then arrested me as an accomplice."

She paused as the memory seemed to get the better of her for a second. I could see that this wasn't exactly going to be a story with a happy ending.

"They tried him with assault and had him killed. I got off with a warning, but only because I hadn't actually engaged in the attack. Otherwise I wouldn't be here right now."

We all continued on in silence for a few awkward moments before I decided something needed to be said, "Kaia I'm sor-" I started but she cut me off.

"It's ok. It was a long time ago," she said plainly and I had a quick memory of myself saying almost those exact same words to everyone who tried to say the same thing to me about my parents. Of everyone, I should get how Kaia feels. She took a quick breath, looked up at me and smiled a small smile, "It's just...not something you forget, you know?"

"Yeah I do know," I said with a smile, hoping she understood.

"Water," Caden interrupted.

"What?"

"Water," he said pointing to his left, "There's a stream just over there."

"Thank fate," Kaia said and she burst into a run towards the stream.

I looked at Jett and he rolled his eyes before we followed off after her at a normal pace. Once we got to the stream we all jumped straight in, deciding wet clothes were a small price to pay to relieve the heat. Kaia was already lying down in the water when we got there and Jett went up and lay down next to her. Caden lay down the opposite way so that his feet and Kaia's were opposite each other. I went and lay down next to him and once I was thoroughly satisfied that I was cool enough I turned on my side so I was facing him.

"Alright time to spill," I said sternly, "What's up?"

"Nothing," he grunted looking up at the sky above him.

"Bull," I said without hesitation but he didn't say even a syllable.

"You trust me remember?" I pleaded sympathetically.

He turned around so that he was facing me and I could see why he had been hiding his eyes from me all day. The pain in them was so clear that it was hard to bear it and I had to fight with all my strength not to reach out and pull him towards me to try and stop it.

"I killed Sylas," he said quietly.

"Yes. You did."

"I killed someone."

"Yes."

"I single handedly stole a person's life from them and took away their every chance at health and happiness."

"Well-" I was going to start protesting but he cut me off.

"I murdered a boy. But what's worse than that is...that I don't regret it."

Ok. Now I was confused.

"I don't feel guilty for killing Sylas. I know I should. I know what I did was wrong, but I don't regret taking him from this world. In fact I'm quite the opposite. I revel in the fact I killed him. I'm glad he's dead. I almost want to bring him back just so I can have the chance to hurt him all over again. When I did it I was so filled with rage, with a hot, burning, fury that it consumed me. That the bloodthirsty instinct inside of me took over and I acted on impulse and when it was over I was disgusted at myself."

I watched his eyes as the pain in them grew as he spoke his fears but never broke the link between our eyes.

"How many times have we seen it Eora. Seen victors come back completely changed. Seen nice kids turn into ruthless animals. Into monsters. Now I'm one of them, I'm a monster. A bloodthirsty, callous monster. And that terrifies me. It chills me to my bones Eora. I killed Sylas. And I'd do it again."

He looked down away from me but I lifted my hands up and held his face in my palms. I turned his head up so he was looking into my eyes again.

"Caden Rhoades, you listen to me," I said comfortingly, "Sylas was possibly the most sadistic, twisted, corrupted human being on the entire planet. His world revolved around one thing and one thing only, killing others. He captured people, tortured them and used them for bait. _He_ was the monster. I think what you did was generous. If it had been me, I would have made it long and painful, just like he planned to do for me. I want him back so _I_ can kill him myself for everything he did to me; does that make me a monster?"

He went to respond but I quickly shut him up.

"I personally think that the world is a better place without him. I think you actually saved potentially another dozen victims of his from violent and horrible deaths. Anyone of us would have killed him in your position and everyone of us would feel good about it. The fact that you don't regret it, it doesn't make you a monster. It makes you human. You, Caden Rhoades, are the sweetest, kindest most caring person I have ever known in my entire life," I paused and smiled at him to make sure he was listening to me, "You. Are not. A monster. You. Could_ never _be. A monster."

He looked back up into my eyes and I could see that some of the pain in his eyes had ebbed away, replaced by something else I couldn't name, but there was still a shade of doubt there. He picked up one hand and lightly stroked my cheek with the back of his fingers. I tried to ignore the tingling in my skin where his caress had touched when I saw Jett snap up from his position in the water a couple of metres away. I sat up and looked around.

"What?" I asked urgently as Caden followed my lead and sat up, as did Kaia.

"Can you hear that?" Jett whispered, "It sounds like...someone coming towards us. More than one someone."

I quickly stood up and grabbed one of the knives at my belt but Caden stepped in front of me, using his body to shield me as he put an arm over his shoulder to grab the sheath of his sword. Jett already had the shoge in hand, one hand on the knife the other on the large metal ring, and Kaia nervously held the machete out in front of her. And then we saw them. All four of them. Tripp, Dahlia, Velvet and Angora. All armed. All running. Towards us.

Dahlia led the pack, spear in hand and looked like she was about to throw it at us. But of course she couldn't, then she'd have nothing to fight with. Velvet tailed her, two short scythes in either hand. Angora was the third and for a second I thought she didn't have a weapon but the she reached over her shoulder and my first thought was _sword_ but I couldn't have been wrong. What she pulled out was a huge, metal mace. It was giant, I doubt I could even life it with two hands and she reached over and pulled it out with one hand easily. It's diamond shaft head had eight sharpened flanges and it had a round hilt at the bottom. I imagine one pat on the head would that thing would be enough for me to start brain haemorrhaging. That ten in training she scored suddenly didn't seem like such a mystery. Tripp took up the rear, his right leg limping slightly as he ran, crossbow in hand. They were only twenty metres or so away and we had no way to run away when they had two long range weapons to shoot us in the back with. So all in all I had one basic thought come to mind. _Shit_.

"Spread out," Jett commanded, moving into a strong stance, "Give each other enough room to move but never turn your back on one of them. Caden you take Angora, I'll take Velvet, Eora you've got Dahlia and Kaia that leaves Tripp to you. Get that crossbow out of his hands. Everyone else, one piece of advice, stay alive."

Alright. That's not so bad. I just have to beat an eighty-five kilo, five foot ten brute with all of my fifty kilos and five foot eight height. With a few knives. Against a spear. Freaking piece of cake.

When Dahlia closed in I stepped out to meet her and she jabbed her spear at me. Predictable. I dodged out of the way, stepped forwards and swiped my knife out at the back of her neck. Unfortunately I only clipped the back and made a thin cut in the back. Fortunately it appeared Dahlia had a very low pain threshold and she screamed in pain and raised one of her hands to her neck on impulse. With the few seconds I got I managed to plunge the knife into her back just below her left shoulder blade. She screamed again and her arm faltered for a second. I wondered for a moment if I had sever a nerve in her arm and couldn't use it anymore but I didn't have time to fantasise. I was just about to deliver the final blow when I hear something behind me and I managed to duck in the split second it would have taken Velvet to take off my head. I got back up and turned around just in time to raise two of my knives in a defensive position to stop her incoming scythes from puncturing my skull. We stood for a few seconds with our blades entangled, glaring into each other's eyes before I raised a foot and kicked her right in the middle of her stomach. She doubled back as she had all the wind knocked out of her. Man that felt good.

But in a second I saw Dahlia's spear out of the corner of my eye and I had to turn back around and use my knives to fend off her strike. As the spear toppled out of balance I jabbed one of my knives at her and hit her left arm. She yelped in pain again before turning the spear back around, but her wounded left arm made her slow enough that I managed to duck the attack and kick out her ankles so she tumbled to the ground. Once again I had a chance to finish her off but Velvet was back, all her breath regained and lunged at me again. She kept driving towards me, striking with each scythe alternatively again and again and each time I would stop her blade by making an X shape with my knives inches away from my face. Where the hell was Jett? He was supposed to be on Velvet. Right now I was battling two on one. I had no way of attacking Velvet here. She had the advantage of only needing one of her blades to attack where as I needed both to defend. With each strike I lost space and I retreated back a pace. I needed to change tactics. Then I had an idea. Suicidal? Maybe. Crazy? Probably. Was I going to die if I didn't do something right then? Definitely.

So with her next strike I let go of the knife in my rights hand and grabbed at the base of the blade that she wasn't using to strike with. When I grasped it it's sharpened edges sliced into my palms and I managed to ignore the pain bar one little wince. I yanked the blade out of her hands and suddenly it was scythe against scythe. In her surprise the strike she had been planning to drive through my heart got distracted however despite the fact it went of course she sliced my right shoulder as she hooked around to try and not lose the blade. I held the scythe out in front of me, ignoring the blood dripping down my palm, and quickly sung but she parried it and countered. I used the knife in my left hand to block and then struck again, this time tearing down the front of her singlet and leaving a long line of red behind. I was about to attack again now that I was getting the hand of it when I was distracted by the clash of steel behind me. I dodged to the right so that I could see what was going on behind me. Caden and Jett were both fighting Angora. They had developed a system where Caden would use his sword to block Angora's strikes and then Jett would fling the knife part of the shoge out towards Angora, however they were having very little luck and none of them seemed to be tiring. Unlike me; I was fading fast, whether that was the blood loss or just not being used to fighting in general I wasn't sure but I wasn't sure how much longer I would be able to survive fighting two opponents. Velvet and I progressed, one of us striking the other blocking, neither one of us doing any real damage.

"How's your tummy feeling," she choked out between panting breaths as she parried away another one of my strikes.

"All good as new," I retorted, "Why? Afraid you can't even beat me wounded?"

She glared at me, "You wish," she swung with even more force.

We battled it out for a few more moments before an evil grin appeared on her face, the same one that she had been wearing when she stabbed me in the bloodbath. My survival senses heightened I did a quick one-eighty to see Dahlia wielding her spear and saw her drive it towards me. I closed my eyes and braced for death...but it didn't come. My eyes snapped open and I saw that there was a thick metal chain that had caught Dahlia's spear and driven it off course. I looked over and Jett had one hand on the metal ring of his shoge and the other on part of the chain and was pulling the spear. In a blurred action he drove the knife part of the shoge towards Dahlia but she managed to jump out of the way a fraction of a second before the knife pierced her heart. Jett quickly recoiled and pulled me around behind him in the same action, just in time for me to see Velvet retract her strike that probably would have gone straight through my neck.

Finally, two on two. I took Dahlia and blocked her strikes as she madly drove the spearhead at me. I did however notice that I seemed to also be blocking a hell of a lot of strikes from Velvet as well. Which was weird because Jett was coming at her in a million different ways. I was starting to see the capabilities of the shoge. The blade could be used not only to stab front on but to feign and be used side one thanks to that perpendicular blade at the base. As well as that the chain could be used to disarm an opponent as well as blocking their strikes and entrapping an enemy. And Jett was doing absolutely everything. He moved so bloody fast I didn't see half of what he was doing, cuts, strikes, deflections, they all blurred in together. His ten in training also became less of a secret. And yet while he was throwing everything he had at her, Velvet hadn't made one strike at him. She was blocking him sure, but every chance she had some relief she would go for me rather than him. And Jett had said I was exaggerating about her feelings for him. Obviously not. She wasn't going to touch him. She still somehow believed she was going to get her happily ever after and Jett would carry her away into the sunset on a brilliant white horse. What a blockhead.

Jett and I wove in and out of each other, switching attacks and crossing moves, sometimes doubling up on one opponent to try and get an upper hand but nothing seemed to be working. Up close, at this range, they had too much room to defend themselves. But then all of a sudden Jett had his shoge chain around Dahlia's spear again but this time she jerked it upwards, twisting the chain and throwing Jett off balance and onto the floor. He rolled over but the change had caught him up and she was flailing to get free. Dahlia saw her opportunity and was about to raise the spear when I saw a quick movement and then the long tip of a knife protruding out Dahlia's stomach. She gasped, and screamed before falling to the floor, to reveal Kaia standing behind her, her hands shaking and her breath coming heavily. Tripp was sitting on the ground ten metres or so behind her, his kneecap blown up to double its size and a horrid purple colour. From its position far too right around his knee it was quite obvious it was dislocated and he was pulling it close to his body. Jett jumped back up and returned to fighting Velvet, whose face was suddenly much darker and covered in shock. I leant down to where Dahlia was lying on the floor, the blood from her wound pooling around her and tears streaming down her face. She was gasping for breath and her face was going so pale she made the snow we saw two days ago look dark. I hated her, yes, but this wasn't a way anyone should die, slowly, painfully and living every single second of it. So it was with pity, rather than hatred that I brought Velvet's stolen scythe to Dahlia's neck and quickly tore it across her throat. And almost simultaneously a cannon fired.

One down. Three to go. I was about to go back in and help Jett finish off Velvet when all of a sudden someone else was there helping him. A tall lean boy with thin dark hair and a pickaxe was attacking Velvet from the other side. She was really struggling then, she had picked up the knife I had dropped at some point and was fending off Jett with the Scythe and the other boy with knife. Considering her circumstances she was doing pretty well but not well enough. She wasn't going to last much longer. I looked over at Caden fighting Angora. They were still both not wounded at all, neither one of them had laid a blow on the other but I could see Angora was distracted now. She could see Dahlia's lifeless body, Tripp's dislocated knee and Velvet struggling against the two boys. She knew that Velvet would go down soon and then it would be four- I mean five, apparently- on one. That's not good odds, even for Angora. You could see it in her stance, in her positioning and in her eyes. She was thinking of running. Maybe she did have a brain after all. But I could get her. From here, I could launch a knife and I could hit her. But then again, I could also hit Caden. My aim is pretty good, I don't miss often, but what if I hit Caden. Is the chance at getting Angora enough to risk losing Caden? Could I live with myself if I missed? But before I had a chance to make up my mind it was made up for me. Because I heard a sound. One sound. A Scream.

I turned back to where Velvet had been fighting Jett and the boy. But she was fine, in fact the two boys had stopped attacking her. And it wasn't Angora, I had been watching her when I had heard the scream. And it had definitely been a girl. No guy could reach a note that high. So if it wasn't Angora, and it wasn't Velvet, that meant..._no._

Kaia had fallen to the ground, a long thin arrowhead protruding out from her ribcage. I could see behind her Tripp was running away, Velvet and Angora not far behind now that we had been distracted, with the crossbow in his hands. He must have popped his knee back in, crawled over to where he had dropped the crossbow and shot Kaia from behind. And then the weak bastard wasn't man enough to stay around and fight afterwards. I wanted to chase him down and shoot _him_ in the back but Kaia needed our help now. I crouched down beside her and rolled her over onto her stomach so I could pull the arrow out. I grabbed the end of the arrow and was about pull when Jett put a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't," he said gently, gesturing towards the arrow, "Look where it is Eora."

I took a closer look at the arrow. It was going through and through yes, but not through just her ribcage. Tripp had better aim than I thought, the arrow was almost going straight through her heart.

"Even if you pull it out it won't help," said the boy. I turned around and almost gasped. Scarface. I mean Davion. The boy who was fighting with Jett was Davion from nine, "It will just cause her unnecessary pain." He shrugged, "Just thought you should know." He turned around and started running at full pace, following the direction that the careers had run in. I wanted to scream for him to stop, to ask him why he had helped us, why he had helped me in the bloodbath, and why he was chasing after the careers like a madman, but I knew I couldn't. Kaia was dying, and I couldn't just abandon her. Not now.

I turned her back over so she was on her back, facing upwards. I brushed the strands of her long dark hair that were covering her face off and propped her up so that the arrow didn't press into the ground and hurt her even more.

She smiled at me, "Guess...I don't get to...to finish my list." The colour was leeching from her cheeks very fast and I could feel my clothes becoming even damper as her blood soaked them.

I shook my head, "No you finished it. You've done something new today right?" I asked desperately. If this would comfort her than this was what I needed to do.

"I got shot... in the chest," she said with what I think was supposed to be a laugh but end up as a wheezing cough, "never...never done that...before."

I gave her a sad smile, "True. And you were the one who really killed Dahlia. You were the one who brought her to brink of death, I just made it quicker."

A small tear ran down Kaia's cheek and she gave a small nod.

"And you saved Jett's life," I said turning back around to where he and Caden were standing behind me and looking for some reassurance, "he was screwed. Dahlia was about to run him through with a spear when you took her out."

"Really?" Kaia barely whispered, another long tear trickling down her face.

"Yeah," Jett said softly, "I was a goner. Thanks for that."

"You're welcome," she said with another smile that was as big as she could make it.

"And the last one..." Oh crap. The last one was that she wanted to kiss someone. I turned back around and looked at both Jett and Caden. They both looked sympathetic but confused at my possible distraught appearance and pleading look.

"I guess...I guess I fall...at the last hurdle," she breathed, trying her hardest to conceal the oncoming tears.

"I guess," I admitted hopelessly. I couldn't really just ask one of them to kiss her could I? Would they even do it if I asked? Who knows? I was ready to admit defeat when Jett came over and sat on the other side of Kaia. He lightly stroked her hair before leaning down towards her slowly and lightly pressing his lips against hers. And they lingered there for a few astonishing moments before he pulled back and began stroking her hair again.

"Thank...you," Kaia choked out. She didn't have long now, it suddenly looked like it was tolling even to keep her eyelids open.

Jett just smiled a sympathetic smile at her and continued to stroke her hair.

"How did you-" I started before he answered.

"We were only lying ten metre behind you guys," Jett said plainly, "We heard every word you said."

Crap. Well I would have to mentally go back over that conversation and make sure anything that was said wouldn't be bad for them to know but not right then. What mattered right then was that Jett had known what Kaia had needed and he had given it to her. I looked back down at her. The tears were flowing more heavily now.

"You know I...I thought...that if I did everything...on the list that...I'd be ready...to die," She said, her body shaking ever so slightly as she stuttered and slurred trying to speak and cry at the same time, "I'm scared...Eora. I don't...I don't want to die. What...what do you think happens?"

I sighed, "I don't know," I answered with honest regret, "But it has to be better than this right?"

She smiled a little behind her tears and her eyes started to close.

"And who knows," I added just because I thought it might help, "Maybe your brother will be there."

"I'll...tell him...you say...hi," Kaia said before her eyes drooped down to a close. The only sign of life left on her thin, pale body was the slight rise and fall of her chest. And after a few silent moments that stopped too. Then the cannon fired. She was gone. Kaia was dead.

**I cannot believe it has been almost a month since I last updated! It does NOT feel like it's been that long. Sorry for the delay guys, massive writers block. I had no idea how I was going to start this chapter I just knew where it was supposed to end. That and it's really hard to kill off a character, even one who you kind of designed just to die...Anywho since I'm so busy at the moment I'm going to do something I've seen a couple of other writers do when they think they might be away for awhile. For anyone who wants it I've created a weird little passage with a line of code that contains a spoiler for an upcoming twist. Warning it's **really **hard and kind of weird but for anyone who wants a sneak peak they just have to review or PM me that they want it and I'll send it to them. Once again sorry for the delays guys but hope it was worth the wait.**

**Xx C**


	29. Coward

**Coward**

I don't know how long we stayed there, none of us really willing to move anywhere, none of knowing what to say. This place, which had only moments ago been filled with movement and chaos, had now fallen silent, so quiet in fact that it felt kind of eerie and ominous. There was quite literally no sound, like the calm before the storm. It was creepy.

And me, I felt...numb. I knew I should feel sad, Kaia was lovely and in the few short days I had known her she had kind of grown on me, but I just...couldn't. I wanted to be able to cry but it was like my tear ducts were all dried up. Maybe this was just how it would be. Maybe this was how I'd adapted, how I'd evolved, maybe for the rest of the games the people around me would all fall away and the only way I could protect myself would be to just be numb, resilient, unfeeling. Perhaps that was just the way it worked. It wasn't a choice, it was simply how evolution worked.

I think eventually it kicked in that we needed to move. We couldn't stay here forever and they needed us to leave so they could collect Kaia and Dahlia's bodies to be sent back to their parents. Kaia's poor parents, they had already lost a son, now this. Life sucks some times, correction, life sucks _most_ of the time. As I went to stand up I lightly picked up Kaia's head which was propped up against my knees and gently lowered it to the ground. I then tried as delicately as I could to take the pack off from around her shoulders, which is weird I suppose because it's not like she could feel it anymore anyway but still, it didn't feel right to just treat her like a corpse now. In fact if you had come across her lying here and hadn't known she was dead she could almost be sleeping. So I'd pretend, for now, that she was just asleep and I didn't want to wake her. Maybe that would help the numbness. As I took the pack off Jett bent down and quickly took the bloodstained machete Kaia had used to kill Dahlia from her pale, cold hand and Caden bent down and placed a small, white gold ring around Kaia's fourth finger. It was actually really beautiful, with a small square diamond set inside a ring of tiny emeralds, but I had never seen it before, and no offence but I never really would have pictured Caden to be the kind of guy who carries a Diamond ring around...woah hold on a second. Diamond rings are normally... He couldn't have...I mean there was no way he was going to...this is the _Hunger Games_ people don't...breathe Eora. Stop freaking out. Just ask him why he has an engagement ring.

But when I went to actually say the words they got caught in my throat and I found myself unable to talk. Instead when Caden looked up at me I just raised an eyebrow to question his actions, hoping to look puzzled and nonchalant rather than...well...this.

"It's Kaia's token," he said softly, looking back at her small, lifeless body, "She showed it to me the other day when we were swapping watch shifts. It was her mother's first engagement ring, the one Kaia's dad gave her before he left them. I found it on the ground back there and decided she'd probably want it with her...wherever she is now."

Ok that made much more sense. Would it have been that hard for me to figure that out, rather than just assuming Caden was going to propose to me? Crap, did I completely imagine that up out of nothing? I'm losing it, that's the only logical conclusion, I must be going crazy. I mean, if I was sane I never would have irrationally jumped to a random conclusion and imagined that Caden had planned to ask me to marry him. And if I was sane the idea of Caden proposing to me wouldn't bring back that tightness in my stomach, the dizziness/ giddy feeling and that sensation of not being able to breathe like I was experiencing just then. Unless...I mean, I can't be...nope, not possible. I must just be going mad.

I didn't want to leave Kaia behind here but what else could I do? Bury her? All that would do would waste time, effort and make Kaia's body dirty for when they actually buried her when her family got her body back. So with regret and an unwillingness to leave I embraced the numbness inside me and stood up and walked away.

Not even searching Dahlia's body and finding that she had the sheath of half a dozen knives in her pack managed to spur any kind of emotion from me. What had happened to me? Was I repressing some kinds of feelings or something? Nope I don't think so. Was I scared and lost now that death had finally caught up to me and taken someone I actually gave a crap about? No not really. Then what? Why did I feel...empty, hollow?

None of us talked as we walked around, I don't really know why not, I guess it was just...weird, to just continue on like nothing had changed when so much had. As the sun slowly slipped behind the shadow of the mountain, which it seemed to do no matter which side of the mountain we slept on, we decided we needed to find a spot to sleep.

"Should we look for some kind of cover?" I asked bluntly as I looked around seeing nothing but trees.

"Nah," Jett said as he sat down, "It's flat here. I can set up the tent I stole from the careers the day I killed Delaine and we can just sleep here. No one is going to challenge us, no one is stupid enough to."

"Arrogant," I murmured as I went over to help him set up the tent, "I'm sure that's just what the careers thought and now three of them are dead."

"Pardon?"

"Nothing."

Setting up the tent, not my strong point. I just didn't get how the poles all folded out and then went into random places and why there were so many pieces of material to cover it...eventually I just sat down and let the two boys do it while I made myself useful by trying to make the food. If that wasn't a stereotype for you I didn't know what was. But before I could I had to deal with my injuries. Both Caden and Jett hadn't even got a scratch on them but me, I was beaten up pretty bad. But hey they were the two in their two on one, I was the one. Personally I think I did pretty well, considering I was against two girls who were not only bigger, well Dahlia was considerably bigger Velvet was probably around the same size, and more experienced with weapons with me. My shoulder wasn't that bad, it was just my two palms that were really hurt. At the time I had managed to subdue it but now they were throbbing and stinging like I couldn't believe. My left palm luckily had stopped bleeding but my right, the one that had taken the majority of the weight when stealing Velvet's scythe, still had blood running down it. Luckily for me the two boys were busy with the tent and didn't see me dealing with the injuries because I was pretty sure they would have decided that the right palm needed sutures and, yeah right, like I was going to let that happen again. I just wrapped a tight dressing of bandage around both of my palms and hoped that that would be enough for it to stop bleeding and stop hurting.

The three of us made a joint decision not to have a fire running today because while we may have been cocky enough to camp out in the open we weren't quite dumb enough to light the fire and basically scream to everyone else, "we're here, come and get us!" I personally was definitely happy enough to just eat food that didn't need to be cooked.

I couldn't make myself look up at the sky when I saw the flash of light from the seal out of the corner of my eye and heard the anthem playing. I just kept my eyes down and focused on the food I was trying to ration out. I didn't want to look up and see Kaia's face up there, smiling pleasantly like everything was fine, everything was normal. Everything wasn't normal, she was dead. I found another reason the gamemakers liked to show the faces of the dead tributes in the sky, not only would it tell us who was dead but it would also flaunt their death to any of those who may have given a crap about them. Just in case the memory of her death was slipping from my mind they had once again brought it to the very forefront of my brain.

"It was just the two of them," Jett said softly as he came to sit down next to me and collect his food, "Dahlia and Kaia. They were the only two dead today."

I didn't really have any kind of response for that. I had lost count of how many were dead...Sylas, Dahlia, Kaia...11,12,13. Thirteen dead. Over half-way. I supposed if I was like Sylas, if all I wanted was to win and get back home I would be glad, I mean I was in the top 50%, I only had to get rid of ten more, but I all I could think was _All those kids dead. All those parents childless. _Maybe Sylas had something right, maybe just accepting that this was the way the world was and embracing it was the only way that I would be able to survive. Maybe it was time to stop caring.

After we ate Caden left for a few moments to go fill up the water flasks and Jett and I had a few moments alone. Time to address one little pressing issue.

"Hey Jett," I asked tentatively when he had turned around.

He turned back to look at me and smiled a little, "Yeah?"

"Why'd you kiss Kaia," I asked while looking down at my nails trying to make it look casual, "I mean you didn't have to. We didn't know you guys had heard us. Did you like, like her?" I wasn't really sure but hey, maybe it would explain why he was so open to working with her.

He frowned a little, "Because she saved my life Eora. She was dying and she was scared and I knew what it was she wanted to do before she died. She saved my life and I owed her one so I kissed her. Please don't try and make it into something it wasn't just because it's convenient for you."

Ok that confused me. Convenient how? I was going to ask what the hell he was talking about when he sighed and butted in.

"Sorry," he said with a small smile, "That was harsh and you were just asking."

I smiled back. Maybe better not to press the issue and just accept the apology rather than continue fighting, "That's ok." Perhaps since he was in a relatively good mood this was a good time to ask him so more questions. I smirked at him and raised an eyebrow, "So what exactly did you eavesdroppers hear when Kaia and I were talking."

He smiled like a guilty little child who had just been caught out, "Everything. The two of you weren't exactly quiet."

"Everything?" I asked with a groan. I was pretty sure there was some embarrassing stuff in that conversation. Yep now it was coming back, Kaia explained why she wanted to work with us, said she thought I cared about Jett and Caden more than I was letting on and from memory there was some debate over her calling Caden 'my Caden.' And they both heard the whole thing. Brilliant.

His smile grew, "Yep. Everything from Kaia's list to her theory about which ones of us were ready to die," he was smiling basically ear to ear by now, "Mind you, you should have seen Caden's face when Kaia said she wanted to kiss him. Hands down the funniest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. A mixture of absolute shock, embarrassment and confusion. Gold."

"You'll have to re-enact it for me," I said with a grin and he laughed.

"We just need to embarrass him so badly he does it again. I swear it was all I could do not to burst out laughing and blow our cover."

I glared at him and he poked his tongue out at me.

"Why did you almost laugh?" Caden asked from behind us and we both turned around at the same time and said "Nothing," simultaneously. Caden raised his eyebrow in confusion but just shook it off.

"I think that tent will fit two people, hopefully," Caden added with a quick glance at the tent, "We should probably try and get as much sleep as possible."

"I'll take first watch," I butted in. I had a plan and I was going to see it through.

They both went to protest but I managed to cut them off before hand, "No. I don't know what problem the two of you have with me taking first watch but I want to do this," I said stubbornly. I figured I's use whatever power my eyelashes held and drooped them down low trying to look sorrowful to add dramatic effect to my next point, "I probably wouldn't be able to sleep yet anyway. You know what with...I just need a few hours to think before I can sleep."

The both looked at each other reluctantly before giving each other a small nod and then saying a quick goodnight to me and retreating into the tent. Okay phase one of the plan down. If I wanted to be able to get away from the two of them I needed to wait until they were both deep asleep and couldn't see me get away. They weren't going to be happy about me leaving but I had to.

Kaia dying, it changed a lot. If her dying affected me this much, how was I going to cope when Jett died. Or when-or when Caden died. See even thinking about the two of them dying just made the numbness come back. And I couldn't be here, I couldn't be with them when they died. The longer I stayed the more attached to them I would become. It was best for all three of us to just break off now, before we would all drag each other down. It was time to embrace the numbness. It was time to stop hoping. It was time to stop caring.

I waited for what felt like forever but was probably closer to an hour or two, practicing what I would say if they found me later down the track. I had to come up with things to say that would make them hate me enough to just let me run away. My plan was to hide out on the hillside for as long as possible and re-emerge later, hopefully when a few more careers had been picked off, if lady luck smiled on me with any luck it would be Angora, and then only take out those who attacked me. Simple enough, right? Coward? Me? Shut up.

After a period of time _so _long that there was no way that Caden and Jett weren't heavily dreaming I decided it was time. I stood up slowly from my vantage point a few metres away from the tent and crept as silently as possible out to the edge of the tiny clearing. I wanted to look back, to check that they were ok but I made myself not. And I was just about to begin running, because there would be no way they would catch me, that and I would have less time to regret my decision, when I heard him speak from behind me.

"Going somewhere?" Jett said with a remarkably flat tone considering you could see from his face he was fuming. I winced as I turned back around to face him and managed to control my surprise at seeing Caden standing next to him, his eyes down and refusing to meet mine.

Well no point denying it now. Time to put that speech you practiced into action.

"I think we should separate," I said frankly. Jett's eyes widened and I could practically feel the anger coming off him even from five metres away like I was.

"Now?" He said incredulously, "After what just happened with Kaia?"

"Yes." I tried to keep my voice steady and not let myself be broken. _This is all of us_ I kept telling myself. Caden looked back up and I could see the pain in his eyes.

"I don't think this is the time Eora," he barely whispered but I heard it clear as crystal through the silent air.

"There will never be a right time," I yelled, "Not according to the two of you. I think we should just end it now while it's simple."

"It's not simple," I heard Caden murmur as Jett scoffed.

"There are still eight other people out there Eora," Jett spat back, "How did you plan to deal with them."

I frowned, "I don't care. But if I don't leave now I'm going to be stuck with you two." If Kaia was here she would be screaming at me and telling me I was an absolute idiot.

"We get it, Kaia dying, it freaked you out, but now it's three on three, we're even us and the Careers, nothing's going to happen."

"It was four on four before Jett and still Kaia managed to die. I'm not going to be next." I retorted hating the way I sounded. _Do what you have to Eora. Do what you have to._

"We won't let that happen," Caden yelled back but his tone wasn't angry like Jett's was, his was pleading, beseeching, begging me to listen, "We'll protect you."

"I never asked you to," I shouted just like I had practised but I never could have imagined the way my words hurt Caden. He flinched back, his eyes filled with pain and in the second the words had come out of my mouth I wanted to take them back, to tell Caden I didn't mean it, that I was just trying to protect him, to protect them both. But I couldn't, that was the plan, to make them both so angry at me that they would practically chase me away.

"That doesn't mean we won't," Jett roared, "The three of us are strongest together, no one will come after us after today. Not if we're _all _here."

"Just like the careers wouldn't come after all four of us," I added spitefully.

"No, they're not a threat to you."

"_Because they're not after me_," I yelled as I winced. This was my trump card, the lowest blow I could possibly inflict, "It's not me they want. Sylas didn't trap me because I was the threat, he was after _you_. Angora led that death march against us today because _Caden_ killed Sylas. I'm not the one they want. They want the two of you. If I wasn't associated with the two of you I never would have been involved in this mess!" _Idiot, Idiot, Idiot_, I could practically hear Kaia saying if she were here. And I agreed with her, I hated myself for saying these things but they needed to let me go so they could move on and survive. This time they both flinched as I threw my accusations at them. But while Caden's head hung low Jett shook his.

"I don't believe a word that's coming from your mouth and neither do you," he said defiantly.

"Oh now you know what I'm thinking too hey Jett?" I said trying to sound sarcastic and malicious but in honesty, he was completely right.

"It's not working Eora," Jett said with a humoured smile.

"What this alliance?" I spat, "That's my point."

"No," he yelled back, "Trying to enrage us so we let you walk away. You can run but we won't let you leave."

"Oh you'll stop me will you?"

"No," he said with a devilish grin, "We'll follow you yelling and screaming your name so that anyone within a hundred mile radius can hear us."

"And catch us," Caden added.

"Could you deal with that on your conscience?" Jett asked mischievously.

Damn it. They'd called my bluff.

"Not to mention with you and your promises out of the way I'd finally be able to take Caden out," Jett said with fake glee, "If been dying to get rid of him for ages now. Without you there to break up the fights we could finally have it out. I really don't think you should worry about me because personally I think I'd win but Caden's pretty much a goner."

Caden rolled his still pain filled eyes before looking back up at me. I groaned. I wasn't going to win this, they were never going to let me go. And maybe they had a point, maybe we would be stronger together. But I was not going to sit around and let the two of them die. So things had to change.

I huffed, "Fine," I spat, "I won't leave. But we need a new game plan. This sitting around and waiting for trouble to hit us idea, it worked for a while but tomorrow morning we need to make a new plan."

Jett sighed and beamed at me, "Fine."

I frowned at them playfully, a terrible attempt to put this all behind us, "Why is it the only time you two can agree on something is when it's not what I want?"

They looked at each other before Jett spoke, "Because common sense can erase any prejudices. And right then you were being really stupid."

I glared at him before he laughed and turned to Caden, "Do you want first watch or do you want me to have it."

"No I'll watch," Caden said quietly and as Jett and I headed towards the tent I looked back at him and as our eyes met I could feel how much he was hurting and it nearly tore my chest in two.

As I lay in the tent trying to sleep I couldn't get the image of Caden out of my head. I was a bitch, a total and horrible bitch. There was no doubting that. Whatever my reasons for wanting to leave I crossed a line when I said those things. After what was maybe an hour or two I couldn't take the guilt anymore and I decided I needed to apologise. I got up as quietly as I could, trying my hardest not to wake Jett, and then double checking he was actually asleep because I had a feeling I didn't want him listening in on this conversation. I couldn't really tell if he was asleep and the only methods of proving it would have run the risk of actually waking him so I just left it and unzipped the door as quietly as possible before slipping out into the cool night air. I crept up behind where Caden was sitting and sat down next to him without saying a word. He didn't even acknowledge that he heard me; he just kept staring out in front of him with a slight scowl on his brow. For a few moments I just sat there, wondering where I was supposed to start.

"Do you think he's asleep?" I whispered, like the coward I was I managed to completely not get anywhere near the point.

"He's asleep," he said plainly, still not looking at me.

'How do you know?"

"He's snoring."

"He could be faking it," I suggested but Caden shook his head.

"He doesn't know he snores. I confronted him about it and he said it must have been someone else because he doesn't snore."

"Oh." I paused not really sure where this was going, "Don't tell him I said this but he was right. I didn't mean a single word I said."

I saw the ache come back into Caden's face as it fell, "Doesn't mean they weren't true."

I shifted so I was sitting directly opposite him so he couldn't ignore me anymore. He looked at me and I could feel all the pain he felt radiating off him. "They weren't true at all Caden."

"Yes they were."

"No they weren't. I was...terrible. I was spiteful and mean and cruel just to try and get the two of you to let me leave. And I...I hurt you. And I'm so sorry. I never wanted to cause you pain. I've _never_ wanted to hurt you but what I said...I crossed a line. I was deliberately hurtful and brutal and...I'm sorry." I realised I was ranting but I needed him to understand.

"But they were true Eora," he said helplessly as he looked back up at me, "every word you said. It's not you they want. They want us and we're just dragging you along behind us."

"Listen to me Caden," I pleaded, "What I said, it wasn't just spur of the moment, fit of rage words. I planned every syllable. For the hour and a half I waited for you two to go to sleep I planned what I was going to say if you two found me. I picked words that I hoped would make you so mad that you would _beg_ me to leave. I made it all up, I didn't mean it and I don't believe it."

He looked away from me, like he wasn't sure what to believe.

"And think about it," I added with a hopeful smile, "I would have been dead a long time ago if it weren't for the two of you. You especially."

Caden turned back around and grabbed my wrists. He looked me straight in the eye with such open clarity that it nearly scared me from the intensity of it but his eyes softened as he spoke.

"Jett told me to take watch so you didn't try to leave again, even though he thought you wouldn't," Caden breathed, "But I need to know. If you genuinely believe that you are safer without the two of us I _want_ you to leave right now."

I looked at him again to check to see whether or not he was joking. But I could see he was dead serious and this hurt him more than he was letting on. I could have left. I could have lied and left to protect all three of us. But I was in too deep now. I cared too much. I couldn't leave now and not know what was happening. I wrapped my hands around his wrists just like he was holding mine and smiled at him.

"I'm not going anywhere," I whispered with a smile and I saw his eyes brighten a little and saw a little hope dash across his gorgeous face, "And I hope you can forgive me...in time."

"I'm not-" he started but I cut him off.

"Be mad," I cut in, "I would be. You have every right to be."

He smiled a little and loosened his grip on my wrists before letting them go altogether. I did so as well and brought my arms back and crossed them across my knees. I was going to go back inside the tent before Caden spoke again.

"Eora?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"Why did you want to leave so bad?"

Shit. Why did he have to ask that?

"I guess..." I stammered looking for some way out of this, "I guess the whole Kaia thing just really scared me."

"It scared me too," he added, looking at me unwaveringly, "but I didn't try to run away. What's the real reason?"

Damn it, why did he have to be so smart?

I sighed, time for the truth, " I just...I feel like you and Jett are just always going out of your way to protect me," I said slowly, "And I thought with me out of the picture you could focus on yourselves more and maybe you'd be better off without me. And..." I took a deep breath, "I don't want to see either of you die Caden. I...care about you too much."

And there it was, that look he gave me with an unnameable emotion behind it that made me feel light and dizzy all over again.

He edged in closer to me and took one of my apparently tiny hands in his much bigger ones.

"You don't need to protect me," he said with a sincere smile, "Nor do you need to worry about me."

I looked down away from his eyes, "Of course I do."

I could feel his gaze on me and it made me want to blush for some reason. I looked back up at him and he smiled at me again.

"You should probably get some sleep."

"Yeah," I agreed, "I probably should."

"Goodnight," he said warmly but he didn't release my hand yet. I got up and it was only when he couldn't reach me any further that he let go of my hand and even when he wasn't holding it any more my skin tingled from his touch.

"Goodnight," I said back and as I ducked back under the tent roof I could of sworn I heard someone whisper, "I love you," into the air behind me but I couldn't be sure. Even so my heart did a little flip inside my chest. Stupid heart. And as soon as I lay my head down next to Jett in the tent the stressful events of the day caught up with me and I was out.

But I don't think I slept for long. I must have been tossing and turning in my sleep because I re-awoke to the feeling of someone laying the sleeping bag over the top of me again in the middle of the night. I was going to snap awake and declare that the other person take the sleeping bag when I heard Jett snicker.

"She _is_ asleep you know," Jett said with obvious intent to mock, "You don't get any bonus points for being a knight if you're in invisible armour."

"Shut up Jett," I heard Caden retort, "Ever wonder that maybe I don't do the things I do to get 'bonus points'?"

Hmm...sounds like the kind of conversation they wouldn't have when I was around. And perhaps this was a perfect time to get some payback for them eavesdropping on me. So rather than doing the honest thing and admitting that I was awake I lay silent on the floor trying my hardest to look asleep.

"Right," Jett said with as much sarcasm as he could muster up, "Well I guess you need as much help as you can get."

Caden snorted, "Hey I have an idea," he said with fake enthusiasm, "Why don't we play a little game called 'let's all share our master plans'. I'll explain the rules; basically you explain to me your master plan and why you want to be associated with Eora and I and I'll decide whether I need to kill you or not."

Jett gave a fake laugh, "Or we could play the game called, 'stop lying to yourself Caden.'"

"Oh and how do the rules for that game go?"

"Well basically you admit that you actually know I don't have a master plan, that you already know why I am here and that it has nothing to do with _you_."

Uh oh. This didn't sound good. I almost wanted to go back to sleep now but I knew I wouldn't be able to. As much as I hated to admit it, I knew very little about what Jett was doing with Caden and I. Maybe now I would finally figure it out, even if my methodology was a little deceitful.

Caden paused for a while, "You're here for her," Caden said, his tone no longer humorous and light. Shit. Ten guesses who the 'her was.'

I heard Jett shrug, "More or less, yeah."

"Why?" Caden demanded, "You've known her for what? A week and a half now? How could you be willing to risk your life for her after only such a short amount of time?"

"Originally that was never the plan," Jett admitted with a sigh, "Much to your dismay Caden, I'm not a Career. I never wanted to join the career pack for a number of reasons including the fact that Sylas scared me to death. But my plan at the training centre was basically to find someone I could be prepared to spend potentially my last days with. It wasn't like 'bam it has to be her' or anything. I actually talked to maybe half a dozen people before I found Eora. But she was fun and fiery and cute and not half bad at fighting. Overall I figured she was probably the best I was going to get. But with everything I learnt about her I liked her more and more and the more time I spent with her I got more and more attached. And let me tell you when I saw you running away with her in your arms the day of the bloodbath...I can't even explain how that made me feel."

There was an awkward pause and I tried to take in all I was hearing. Jett...with me...no way. He was just pulling Caden's leg. He had to be, right?

"So what?" I heard Caden ask, "Are you in love with her then?"

I heard Jett snort again, "Please, don't flatter me. We can't all be love struck martyrs like you. I just...I really like her. I can't explain it I...I don't know what to say."

"And why are you telling me this?" Caden asked darkly.

"Well...Kaia died and I just thought, I needed you to able to trust me. You know, for Eora's sake or whatever."

"So you thought that by telling me that you've got a crush on the girl I'm in love with that I'd trust you?" Caden said with a dark humour.

"Well you'd know what my 'master plan' is and that is has nothing to do with getting rid of either of you."

Caden laughed and Jett fired up a little.

"Look, the only real difference between the two of us is that you've already doomed yourself to death and I still reckon I can get out of here, Eora with me."

Caden laughed his shadowy laugh again, "Seriously? How dumb are you? Do you need me to do the maths for you? Fifty seven hunger games, fifty seven victors. Seeing a pattern there genius?"

Jett laughed back, "Look, this is the hunger games, and anything can happen. I'm sticking to that."

"Yeah well, good luck."

There was a longer pause this time before Jett started again, "I should probably go take my watch. Go to sleep while you can," Caden gave a small grunt in agreement before Jett spoke again, "Oh and what I said before, about wanting to take you out...I didn't mean it...just so you know. I mean, I hate you, but I don't want you dead."

Caden snickered, "The feelings mutual," he said before he lay down so close to me I could feel his warmth radiating off his body and I could smell his surprisingly attractive scent. No, this was exactly the kind of thing I could not be thinking, nor would I dwell on what I had just heard. I would wake up tomorrow and I wouldn't know, or at least they wouldn't know I knew. I would refuse to acknowledge that Jett had any feelings for me whatsoever rather than those of a trusted ally, frankly all this crap had gotten me in enough trouble already.

And I did. When I woke up I acted like nothing had changed, as I did when we ate and when we packed up and when we left and were trekking through the hillside. Then I remembered what I had said yesterday.

"I think we need to get on that mountain," I said as we walked through the forest, "We need to change tactics. We've been avoiding that mountain for too long now and it's time we went and became more proactive. I think that mountain's the place to be."

He two boys exchanged a quick glance.

"I think it's a good idea," Jett admitted.

"Well then let's get going," Caden said calmly, "But I think we should be extra careful."

"Agreed," Jett and I both said together and then for the first time we headed down towards the valley. It took us maybe forty five minutes to reach the edge of the forest and back down onto the grassy valley. The grass was short and yellow now, probably because according to Jett's seasonal theory today was the autumn month. We had walked maybe halfway across the valley plateau when Caden stopped in his tracks.

"What?" I asked quickly.

"Do you hear that?" he asked as he quickly turned around.

Jett and I both fell silent as we waited to hear what Caden had heard when I heard it. A slow hissing, sizzling sound, coming from not far behind us. I turned around to face the sound and gasped a little when I saw the grass moving towards us. No not the grass, snakes, light brown snaked almost the exact same colour as the grass slithering closer and closer towards us. They were bigger than any snakes I ever could have imagined; maybe two metres long each of them with rough, hard scales and white scales in a zig-zag pattern up each of their sides. They had short, wide, pear shaped heads with a short rounded snout with a cylindrical body.

"Vipers," I screamed, "Run!" And I took off as fast as I could in the opposite direction from the snakes, Caden and Jett hot on my heels. I had counted maybe eight or so but I couldn't be sure. I ran as fast as I could but we were never going to outrun them . Within the first twenty metres the leader of the pack had caught be and was jabbing and the back of my ankle, missing luckily.

"We need to stop and fight them," Caden yelled as he swung his sword at the viper closest to him and took off its head. Jett and I stopped and turned around to face the oncoming mutts. Everything seemed to go in a blur, one snake would jump up at me and I would swipe at it, hit it before another one came. They seemed to be everywhere, all the time. Jett and Caden both seemed to be having as much trouble as me, we were just too outnumbered, until eventually there were none left. I was exhausted, panting as hard as was possible, as I looked around at the swarm of dead snakes around me. I looked over at Jett and smiled with relief but as he turned to look at Caden I saw blood dripping from the back of his left arm, escaping from two small puncture wounds. Snakebite. In fact he had maybe half a dozen bites all over him. And he was standing, staring at Caden's arms which were also dripping in blood. I looked down at my own arms and saw several long, thin lines of red trickling down and there was one on the back of my calf as well. As we all stood silently looking at each other I tried to tell myself not to panic. I turned to Caden.

"Ok," I said with a measured breath, "You're the biology fanatic. What can you tell me about snakebites?"

Caden's face grew grim, "Nothing good."

I frowned, "More specific please."

"Well, if I had to guess, the snake's looked kind of like saw-scaled vipers, just bigger and longer teeth."

"I thought they looked like carpet vipers," Jett butted in, wincing as he applied pressure to one of his bites.

"Same thing," Caden said as he frowned in thought.

"What do you know about them?" I asked Jett as Caden thought.

"Just that they're pretty common around one," Jett said bleakly, "They're kind of like the freaky story you tell little kids to stop them crossing the fence. That and 'don't ever get bitten by one.'"

"Great," I said trying to keep calm, "So they're venomous."

"Highly."

My face turned desperate, "Caden?" I pleaded, "Anything more specific."

He looked up hopelessly, "I'm trying to remember...we don't get them in twelve so I didn't take particular notice of them..."his face fell even more, "Oh no..."

"What?" Jett and I asked at the same time. That was never good.

"From what I can remember," he said slowly, "saw scaled viper bites are normally fatal."

We all fell silent. So this was how it would be huh? Death by snakebite. How anticlimactic.

"How?" I asked quietly. If I was going to die, I would like to know how it was going to happen.

Caden winced, "The venom contains haemotoxins, which basically can cause bleeding anywhere inside the body. But normally, in most cases, people die from...intracranial haemorrhaging."

Great so, no slow, quick easy death for Eora. No I was going to die a slow painful death where my brain would swell to the point where the pressure builds so much I die. Brilliant.

"How long?" I asked desperately.

Caden frowned, "I'd estimate two days, give or take."

Jett looked incredulous, "Give or take what? Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks?"

"A day," Caden groaned, "Give or take a day."

I was stunned, "So at worst we could be dead by this time tomorrow, at best two days after that?"

Caden looked down hopelessly, "Yeah, pretty much."

What could we do? We had no way of fighting off venom that had entered our bloodstreams. This wasn't fair, everything else we'd been able to fend off but this was just...hopeless. We needed a miracle, yeah right. Like I would get given a miracle.

"Shit."


	30. Helpless

**Helpless**

It would be hard to pick an exact emotion that seemed to be passing between Jett, Caden and I as we walked aimlessly around the base of the mountain. Miserable not's quite right, melancholy isn't even close. Hopeless...futile, those would probably be closer. But really could you blame us? We were all _dying _and there was absolutely nothing anyone of us could do about it. I couldn't exactly speak on behalf of Caden and Jett because, well, I'm not really inside their heads am I, but I know that for me, it was all I could think about.

_I'm going to be dead in less than three days._

Something like that, it's not exactly a kind of thought you can just put in the back of your mind and forget about. It's all consuming, overwhelming, unbearable. For example I could have thought about where the three of us should camp for the night but all I could manage was _why does it matter you're dying anyway _or I if I thought about how I would keep warm with the winter day approaching the cynical little voice in the back of my mind just kept whispering _Why bother? Just freeze. Faster than an intracranial haemorrhage anyway. Possibly less painful as well...well maybe. _

And what's worse was I was completely at the venom's mercy. How on earth is one supposed to cure a fatal snake bite? You don't know? Well that makes two of us. It's not like I could just stop the venom from spreading its toxins all through my bloodstream or like I had any clue how to actually deal with a brain bleed if it occurred. I mean if someone or something was trying to kill me I could just defend myself right? This was totally different, this was my own body attacking itself, true it might have been manipulated into doing so by a foreign toxin but still, it's my body, my blood. How the hell am I supposed to protect myself from something inside me?

Quite honestly I don't think a single word passed between the three of us for the entire afternoon. I guess the knowledge of impending death is kind of a conversation killer, but even if there was enough potential for it to be so, the silence wasn't in anyway awkward. We just...didn't have anything to say. I mean, really, what is there to say? I'm sorry we're all going to die but hey it was always going to happen? Not exactly a pleasant, or sophisticated, topic of conversation. I for one didn't even want to talk about it, I was having enough trouble trying to focus as it was, and I imagine that neither of the boys wanted to talk about it either. Overall the silence, as maddeningly isolating it was, was probably the only way that the three of us were ever going to make it through that afternoon.

It was long after dark when we finally did stop for the night. The seal and the anthem had come and gone, the sky completely faceless. Not a good sign. Last time we had a deathless day the gamemakers had sent in those snow cat mutts, and we had already seen what the vipers could do, whatever they decided to do to liven things up next would probably be big. Like, potential for mass murder, big. Mind you within a few days the three of us would be dead, maybe that was enough promise for them to leave us alone for a while.

We, and by we I mean Jett predominately, had picked a heavily foliage thicket to camp out in. From what I had seen of the mountain, it seemed that the flora was much more dense around the base than it had been on the hillside and there seemed to be much more undergrowth, a fact that I personally disliked. Jett had murmured some nonsense about using the natural camouflage of the undergrowth to hide us or something but me, yeah I didn't buy it. I was all for finding someplace else to stay, preferably with fewer shrubs and annoyingly small plants around that just made movement in general inconvenient, but once again I was outvoted. I have to admit I was starting to regret introducing the majority rules system to this alliance because it seemed I kept losing, which was not the plan when I had initiated it. Caden, it appeared, ironically enough, agreed with Jett's camouflaging theory and thought that by hiding out in the foliage we would be able to conceal ourselves better. I did make the point that if it came to the point where we needed foliage to protect us we were probably already done for but neither one of them seemed to appreciate that. Overprotective twits.

Since we had gone without cooked meat yesterday we decided as a group to start a small fire to cook with so we had some protein in our diets, you know, so we were all fit and strong when our brains started bleeding. We still had enough meat left over from the various kills we had made over the week, far out I can't believe it's been a week already, but we didn't have any fire wood to use as kindling.

"I'll go out and get some," Caden had offered when I'd brought up the problem.

"You don't want one of us to come with you?" I asked trying my hardest not to sound overprotective and/or worried, and failing.

He rolled his eyes at me, "Eora, we're in a forest. It really isn't going to take me long to find any fire wood."

"I was just asking," I mumbled grouchily when he was out of earshot. We had decided not to set up the tent, considering we were on the mountain and the careers weren't far away, which meant we would be sleeping on the ground. Surrounded by bushes and shrubs. In the cold. Alone. Fun. I took my discontent out on the pieces of meat I was chopping, or to be more precise assaulting, until I saw some thick, red liquid dropping onto the meat. Blood. My blood. Lovely.

It appeared that a few of my snakebites were still bleeding so, after washing the few drops of my blood off the meat, I searched around in the packs for some bandages. Once I had found them I drenched one of them in water and used it to clean my wounds and wash the blood off my forearm and off my wrists. My originally light brown shirt was unsalvageable now, stained with blood so many times I'd lost count, that I couldn't even be bothered to try and wash the blood off it. I did decide to change the bandage around my right hand though because it was in one of those awkward places where because I needed to use it so much it couldn't heal properly. After finishing off by wrapping a tight layer of bandage around my left bicep, where my worst bite was, I noticed Jett eyeing me from where he was sitting on the ground, maybe five metres away from me, with a strange and puzzled look on his face. I could see that there was blood all down his arms as well, all though it didn't seem to bother him at all. I held out the wet bandage to him.

"Want to use it?"I asked as I offered him the bandage.

He shook his head, "What's the point?" he said in a tone that I think was trying to sound composed and impassive, but came across kind of helpless.

I moved over and sat down next to him and began wiping the blood off his arms, "I dunno. Maybe so you don't bleed out and die?" I looked up at him and smiled.

He kept looking at me, his face oddly calm considering the topic of conversation, and there was an underlying humour there that was almost relieving to see back on his face, "Who knows? Maybe blood loss is quicker than haemorrhaging."

I laughed, even though I realised it probably wasn't smart to be laughing about these kind of things when, well, they're actually applicable to the current situation. "From a wound that small, I doubt it."

He laughed back, "Ok, fair enough."

After that he shut up long enough to let me clean all the blood off him and bandage the wounds that were still bleeding. He had fewer bites that me but his were all much worse than mine, the one of the back of his left arm particularly. It was so jagged and torn that I thought for a few horrid moments that I might have to stitch it up but that was pretty much out of the question. So I just decided to pack on the bandage with as much as would hold so that it had enough pressure on it to stop bleeding.

"Lift your arm," I commanded as I prepped to fix his arm. I heard him groan a little and saw him roll his eyes but I ordered a sharp, "lift it," before he could actually verbalise any protest. He grinned at me devilishly, my bossy attitude apparently entertaining him, before slowly lifting his arm up so I could bandage it. It was in such an awkward spot that I had to turn around so that I was facing him and kneel right in front of him so I could lean over and wrap the binding around his arm. I tried my hardest not to feel awkward being so close to him but I couldn't get the feeling that he seemed to be enjoying my awkwardness out of my mind nor could I ignore the warmth of his breath against my neck, which was exposed as I was leaning across him. Once I had finally finished I slowly moved back so I was kneeling in front of him, our eyes locking for the a moment that seemed to linger for much longer than should have been normal, and I couldn't help but notice the way my eyelashes batted to detach my eyes from his, and I sincerely hoped he hadn't noticed it too. All that would do would be to create extra problems for me and right now, the whole dying thing was pretty much a priority. We sat there for a few silent moments before I heard the sound of Caden returning with the fire wood and I quickly stood up and backed away from where Jett was. I heard Jett stifle a laugh as I shuffled further and further away from him but chose to ignore it rather than turn around and give him the satisfaction seeing me blow a fuse.

Dinner was another particularly dull affair. Consisting of stew with greens and meat, a few chunks of bread and a few more berries to wash it all down it wasn't exactly a meal that inspired any enthusiasm. Mind you, I guess we shouldn't have been complaining, I imagine several of the other tributes had gone hungry numerous times when we had had food every day. That got me thinking, just _who_ exactly was it that was left? Velvet, Angora and Tripp obviously, oh and Scarface-I mean Davion- from nine who had mysteriously popped in and out of our fight yesterday. And I think my favourite, little twelve year old Porter from ten, was still alive, possibly his district partner as well...something beginning with S...Sarah...Sella...Selah, that was it. Oh and Serenity from three, the other twelve year old, she was definitely still out there. There was one more somewhere but I was too tired to try and figure out who it was. I offered to take first watch again but Jett carefully declined to let me, I think the two of them had decided I was never allowed first watch again after what I'd pulled last night but I didn't have the energy to care. I just wanted to sleep, I think all the stressing out had just made me mentally exhausted. I found myself a little spot on the ground that was as close to flat as it got around here and only two or three shrubs and used the waterproof cover of the tent as a mattress. As I lay down and set up to go to sleep Caden came over and subtly attempted to lay the sleeping bag down over me. I rolled over, took it off and threw it back at him.

"No way," I yelled stubbornly, "It's your sleeping bag. You get to use it."

"I don't want it," he said defensively holding it back out towards it, wary enough of me now not to actually give it to me, lest I throw it in his face again.

"Liar," I challenged.

"I really don't," he assured me, holding the bag out further, "Please take it."

"You are not going to freeze on my behalf," I said inflexibly.

"Eora," he said placidly, "I want you to have the sleeping bag."

I just crossed my arms and stared him down until he retracted his offer, after which I lay back down on my side and tried to curl up to conserve body heat. He rolled his eyes and sighed in frustration. He grabbed the sleeping bag side on and began unzipping it so it wasn't a bag so much as a thick blanket.

"Fine," he said, sounding uncharacteristically stubborn, "If you won't compromise I'll just have to take things into my own hands." He lay down literally two inches from me and threw the unzipped sleeping bag out so it covered both of us, "Goodnight," he said with a slightly smug tone before turning so he was facing the opposite direction to me. I tried really hard not to focus on the fact that Caden was lying right next to me and attempted to just ignore the fact that I could feel the heat radiating off his body but it wasn't exactly easy. Not only that but I became deathly stiff, afraid that if I breathed too loud I would keep him awake or that if I rolled over and he rolled over our faces would be so ridiculously close together that we'd practically be breathing the same air. At one point I moved my hand behind me like a centimetre and my hand brushed against his before coming to rest against it and I felt my heartbeat pick up like 500 beats a second and I had to remind myself how stupid that was. _Just focus on sleep. Not Caden, not anything, just sleep._

Eventually, after an unbearably long period of time, I realised that attempting to sleep was futile. I was never going to get to sleep when I had no idea whether or not I was going to wake up. I didn't want to die. I still wasn't ready; in fact I still wasn't sure if I'd ever be ready. And amidst pondering the questions of life, death and what the hell I was going to do about this snake venom issue I heard a sound coming from behind me. It took all the strength I had not to snap straight up and fire a knife at the sound but thankfully my better judgement took control of me for a rare occasion. I tried to pinpoint what exactly the sound I had heard was when I picked it, it was the sound of a twig snapping, the kind of sound made when someone walks on fallen foliage on the ground. I slowly turned around, trying my hardest not to make any noise, when I saw him. It was almost all I could do not to get up and start screaming. It was Jett who had made that sound, Jett who had stepped on that twig, and Jett who was walking away, leaving me-I mean us-behind. I couldn't even describe the rush of emotions that came over me, they ranged so vividly from fury to despair to confusion to betrayal, and they were all there fighting for dominance. But overall the one thought that seemed to take the reins at the forefront of my brain was _so this was how it must have felt to watch me walk away._ I didn't think he even realised that I was watching him walk away from me until I called out to him.

"Seriously?" I said with an impressively flat tone, "After that all that crap yesterday about how much stronger we are together and how we needed _all_ of us to survive, you're bailing?"

He didn't turn back around, but I could see a small smile creep up the sides of his mouth from where I was.

"No. I'm not bailing."

I snorted, "Really, cause that's what it looks like to me." I said, not able to hide the condescending, ironic tone in my voice.

He still refused to turn around, "No Eora. For the first time I am actually embracing what these games are all about."

"Oh really? And what, may I ask, would that be."

He turned back around and there was a sad, knowing smile on his face as he took in the sight of me, "Dying."

I had this whole witty, clever response to whatever his answer was going to be planned in my head but the word 'dying' had thrown me completely. I was expecting him to start rambling on about how this was a one winner game or something and how he needed to detach himself and I was going to respond by blatantly throwing accusations at him and stuffing his own words down his traitorous, backstabbing throat but now...I was totally lost.

His face was pretty much a mirror of whatever that unnameable emotion I was talking about before was, something between helplessness and futility, but he still looked at me with a gentle smile, "I'm not running from it anymore Eora. Until now I thought I could survive, that I could cheat death but I'm finally ready to embrace the fact that I'm going to die. And I'm fine with that, but I don't want to just stand around and wait for it to happen."

"So what?" I retorted, "You were going to go find the careers? Ask one of them to finish you off? I can promise you Angora might not be so merciful but maybe if you ask Velvet _really _nicely. I mean she would do anything for you," I didn't want to sound so accusing, so venomous, for lack of a better and less appropriate word, but it just came out.

He didn't respond, just quickly averted his eyes from mine. So I was right. Brilliant.

"Look I get it Jett," I said, my voice softening as I took a step in towards him, "You're scared. I'm scared too. But look at Caden, look at me. We're both in this with you and neither one of us has given up yet," he laughed half-heartedly at that, which I chose to ignore, "I'm not going to die. Not this way. I'm not going to just sit around and wait for it to happen either, but unlike you, I'm actually going to find a way to fix this. Just running off and finding a quicker way to die, that's not embracing anything, that's running away. That's giving up. And I expected more of you."

"And just what do you plan to do then?" he replied with a dark humour, "What was your master plan?"

I shrugged, "I don't know yet. But I'm _going_ to find a way." I don't know where my sudden self confidence had emerged from but I kind of liked how determined I sounded.

"Why bother Eora?" he asked feebly, "They've one. The gamemakers were always going to win. Whether it's now, death by snakebite, or getting killed later by some blood crazed kid, we'll still end up with the same result. Dead. So why bother fighting it?"

"Pride," I said bluntly, "My own selfish pride and dignity. Sure, I could just give up and let them win, or I could die making them fight for it. Whether or not you like it there are several million people out there and they're all watching you, watching me, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing that I was letting them see me just give up. And I don't want my baby sisters to have to learn that I just surrendered because it was the easy thing to do. I'd want them to at least be proud of me," I smiled for a second, "And besides, who's to say one of us won't win this thing once we've got this whole snakebite fiasco sorted. So the only question is, is your pride enough to live for?"

He looked away from me as he considered what I had said. When he turned back there seemed to be a new air about his stance and a brightness in his eyes that wasn't there before. He didn't answer my question but he walked up so that he was standing directly in front of me and dropped his pack at my feet, before going back and sitting down on the small rock he had taken up his watch on before. I couldn't stop myself from smiling a small, self satisfied smile before I went back to where I had been lying before. As I lay on my side I looked at Caden's sleeping form and wondered whether or not he was actually awake and had been listening to all of that. Guess it doesn't matter either way; it wasn't like he would be affected by it in any way. In fact I almost wished he had heard it, he'd probably be crazy proud of my sudden confidence in life, not to mention how happy it would make him to have cold, hard proof that I wasn't suicidal. I closed my eyes in preparation to go to sleep, my newfound determination to live overriding any fear of death that had kept me awake before, before Jett started talking again.

"I guess we're even now," he said with a smirk, "I stopped you from doing something stupid, you stopped me from doing something idiotic."

I turned back around so I was facing him and grinned, "It must be Caden's turn to try and bail now since you and I have both failed."

Jett laughed, much louder than was probably necessary, "Keep dreaming sweetie, he's not going anywhere without you and you know it."

I think that even in the dark and with the distance between us Jett could see me blushing because his smile widened. I decided to transfer this topic of conversation onto a much safer one.

"You know what you said about the gamemakers winning or whatever," I said, looking down at my nails and trying to dry the colour from my cheeks.

"Yeah?"

"Well it got me thinking," I mused, "That this whole thing, it's not really their style."

"What whole thing?" Jett asked, quite obviously interested.

"The death by snakebite thing," I said, thinking out loud, "I mean it's not typical of them. They want us killing each other off right, that's what they find entertaining. But this, yes this is slow and painful but it's also internal. It's not going to be very dramatic; we're just kind of going to keel over aren't we?"

"Yeah," he frowned, "So what?"

"So there has to be a catch. There has to be some greater scheme in motion, hopefully one that involves us living a little bit longer."

His brow furrowed before his whole face softened a little, like something a father would do when they're about to delicately let down a little child, "That's a very small sliver of hope there. And it's kind of just a theory."

I frowned, "Yeah well it's something. What have you got?"

"Nothing," he admitted before pausing for a few seconds. He took a deep breath as his face became gloomier, more forlorn, "Look Eora, if we don't make it until tomorrow I just wanted to tell you-"

"Stop," I butted in quickly, not just because I disapproved of his pessimistic attitude but also because I was pretty sure I knew what he was going to confess and I personally had no interest in going down in that dangerous direction. For all he knew, I was completely oblivious to the fact that he had feelings for me, and I wanted it to stay that way. If he knew I knew it would just complicate a relatively simple and prosperous friendship, not to mention make things ridiculously awkward, "Anything you have to say to me you can say in three days time when we've lived through this," I stalled with a friendly smile, hoping not to show how determined I was to halt his declaration.

"But just in case-"

I made a dramatic production of turning over so I wasn't facing him anymore and blocking my ears, "Nope. I'm going to sleep. You'll have to wait to tell me. Goodnight."

He laughed a little and out of the corner of my eye I could see him shaking his head and rolling his eyes, "Goodnight."

Day eight in the fifty-eighth hunger games was, for lack of a better word, boring. Quite literally nothing happened. We woke, we ate, we left, we searched, we hunted, we rested, we ate some more and that was about it. If we had been in any other kind of circumstances than the ones we were presently in it would have been almost relaxing. Except it is very hard to relax when you can practically hear your biological clock ticking. _Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock. _Every single second I was wondering, _will this be it? Will I die now? _This...this waiting was unbearable. Not knowing which precious minutes would be the ones when you would finally kick the bucket was almost as bad as thinking about actually dying. It was killing me, pun unintended, to have to just sit and hang around until I finally dropped dead.

And don't get me wrong, I was thinking, always thinking. Every single living moment was devoted to trying to think of a way to get us out of this. And every single thought was just...blank. I had nothing. Nada, zilch, nil, nothing. No miraculous thought, no spur of the moment brilliance, no light bulb clicking on and giving me an answer. Just empty, hopeless thoughts. In all honesty I was kind of waiting to hear from Haymitch, he hadn't exactly produced any solution either and he had access to practically unlimited resources up there in the capitol. The least he could do was find a solution and just give me some kind of hint as to what the hell I should do, surely there had been this kind of thing in the games before, someone must have had a plan, a solution.

Well that was it was boring up until around 5:30pm based on the position of the sun. There I was, freezing my ass off walking through the cold, wintery air, minding my own business, almost begging for something of interest to happen when the entire world started spinning around me. I couldn't feel my body, or any of my limbs, nor did I have any perception of space or direction. Colours seemed to blur together into an unnameable shade of grey and definite lines and shapes evaporated, replaced by fluid, blurred images. I felt myself bending over as I gasped for breathe, hoping that the oxygen would relieve me of this terrible feeling of faintness. I almost felt like I might completely black out before I felt multiple pairs of hands around me, on my shoulders and around my waist, holding me up and keeping me steady. I was aware of voices filling the air, the sounds of alarm and panic being emitted but specifics, like words, seemed to be lost on me. The only thing that I could really feel or remember was how to breathe, and even that was a struggle. This overwhelming feeling of disorientation seemed to be the only true thing my mind could focus on and I was becoming increasingly unaware of my current surroundings.

"Eora," I heard through the blurred voices, "Eora, what's wrong?"

I tried to respond but I had forgotten how to mould my mouth into words. I continued to hear sounds of what seemed to be whispered discussion but I could no longer focus on anything outside of me. Yet somehow I made it onto the ground and I huddled my knees to my chest in a feeble position and tried to regain composure. Once the threat of collapsing had passed and once I no longer felt the overwhelming need to throw up the concept of actually talking seemed to come back to me.

"Eora?" Jett whispered to me from my left, when did he come to sit beside me?

"Whoa," I said, putting my hands either side of my temples, "What the hell just happened?"

"Actually," Caden said from my other side, not that I could remember him being there either, "we were going to ask you the same thing."

"You scared the hell out of us," Jett added with a tone that slightly conveyed accusation, like it was somehow my fault I'd completely zoned out, "What was going on there?"

"I have _no_ idea," I confessed, my ears still ringing a little and the world still spinning a little faster than it should be, "One minute I was standing straight up the next I felt unbearably light-headed and horribly nauseous. Wait," I paused, "Still horribly nauseous."

They appeared to look through me as the two of them looked at each other, some kind of silent conversation passing between them.

"Not common snakebite symptoms," Jett said hesitantly.

Caden's face grew dim, "They are symptoms for intracranial haemorrhaging though."

"Great," I said with as much sarcasm as I could muster, "So I've already got it. How much time does that give me?"

"Each person is different," Caden said, trying to sound reassuring but the fear and dread on his face gave him away completely, "It also depends on the size and location of the bleed."

"Wait," I stopped trying to understand what was going on, "And you're both feeling completely ok?"

"Yep," Caden said quietly whilst Jett said, "Healthy as ever."

"You are much smaller than the two of us," Jett guessed, "Maybe the venom just spread much faster throughout your bloodstream." He raised an eyebrow at Caden in question.

He shrugged, "It's possible." The look of melancholy in both their faces seemed to suggest the worst, but I had already figured that much out.

"So I die first," I concluded, with a mixture of gloom and, to my surprise, relief. I don't really know how to explain what it was I was feeling. On one hand, the idea of my own death tormented and terrified me, but on the other, I was glad that I would never have to see either Caden or Jett die. I was relieved that I would be the first one to go, as selfish as that was. They both paused, although the defiance in their faces seemed to suggest they refused for that to be an option, their silence contradicted them.

"No," Jett said after a few soundless moments, "It just means we have to come up with a solution faster."

"Right," I said bitingly, before regretting my spite. They were just trying to help, the least I could do before abandoning them would be to comfort them, ease their pain.

"Do you think you can move anywhere?" Caden asked lightly, looking over my fragile state.

Considering that just the task of raising my head was causing that whirlwind of images to reappear I was thinking probably not, "I don't think so, sorry."

"That's ok," Jett said whilst getting up and giving a small clap of his hands, "We'll just have to set up camp here then. It's a little thin on foliage but it'll have to do."

"Shame I couldn't have collapsed in a more appropriate place," I added with a smile, though personally I was glad for the lack of shrubbery around us.

Jett laughed and turned around to set up but Caden apparently didn't find my joke funny at all. He reached out and stroked a few untamed strands of my hair away from my face and seemed to absorb all of me in his gaze. It was the kind of look one would give something rare, or fleeting, the kind of gaze that suggested you only had so much time to look at it. I didn't like it. His mouth moved, as though he was just about to say something, before Jett called him over to help with something. He was out of my reach in an instant and I unwillingly let out a deep sigh, after which I cursed myself.

Dark seemed to settle in more quickly than it normally did, which I suppose was because it was the winter day, and it was not long after we had finished eating our meals that the anthem boomed above us. Once again the sky remained empty, nothing but the seal of Panem to display to the tributes. A second deathless day was practically an unheard of occurrence in the arena. The gamemakers _never_ let the games go on so peacefully for so long. They must have been planning something _big_. Like _really _big.

I was just about to resume re-bandaging my right palm when a sudden eruption of trumpets sounded above us. Like I have said before, I was never exactly a hunger games aficionado or anything, but I wasn't completely ignorant to them. No one in Panem was. So even I knew what that sound meant, Claudius Templesmith had a message for us.

"Good evening tributes!" his voice sounded across the arena with an unnecessary enthusiasm, "It is my pleasure this evening to inform you all about, and to invite you all to, a feast tomorrow morning!"

I almost groaned in lack of interest. Feasts were regular occurrences in the games; they were a good way of attracting all the tributes into one spot, normally a universally known area, like the Cornucopia for example, by giving the tributes some incentive to actually show up. And what's even more promising about them, they always result in fatalities, plural. For the three of us, who had not yet gone a single night hungry, there was really no reason to show up, we didn't need the food or the water. I almost tuned out at that very moment before he started talking again.

"But just wait!" he encouraged, "Not just food shall be the prize of tomorrow's gathering. Instead your respective mentors have each chosen one individual item, or group of items, that they believe will be your saviour in these games. Something that you each _need_ to survive."

Ok that had me interested. Not food that was on offer here, but anything that Haymitch had chosen for me to survive. Like perhaps some kind of venom stopping, intracranial haemorrhage healing miracle? Suddenly Claudius' offer sounded much more tempting.

"Each of you will find your prize in a colour-coded backpack, marked with the number of your district, at the summit of the mountain at dawn. I would advise that you all accept my invitation, not doing so, could be your very end." And with those parting words, which though I'm sure they were not, seemed to be directed solely at me, he was gone, nothing but the remnants of what he had said as evidence that his words had ever been spoken.

We all sat in silence, each one of us trying to understand what exactly had just happened. So I was right, there was a catch. The snakebite, the venom, it was all just a build up to something bigger, something more gruesome. They simply wanted to weaken us to a point where we would have no choice but to attend the feast and attempt to claim our prize. That had to be the answer right? What was the other one, that people had found us too entertaining to be killed off is such a boring way? Hardly, we hadn't actually done anything worthwhile, the only thing, and I mean the _only_ thing, that the capitol audience wanted from us was more violence and we had hardly provided on that scale had we? Sure we had killed Sylas and Dahlia but that's still only two people, tiny proportions on a grander scale. In fact, I almost wondered if perhaps we weren't the only ones in this position, if perhaps there were others who needed something so desperately that they were willing to literally walk head on into the path of danger to get it. There would have to be, wouldn't there. They wouldn't just do this for us?

I looked over at Jett and Caden, "We have to go," I said plainly.

Caden nodded in agreement as Jett said, "Of course we have to go. The only question is what do we plan to do once we get up there?"

"We need to get in there early," Caden mused, "If not someone else will just take our packs."

"Yes," Jett agreed, "In fact, preferably, we need to be the first ones in there."

I stood up, a little woozily but feeling remarkably better with the potential to continue living available, "Well then what are we waiting for?" I asked with a tad more eagerness than needed, "Let's go."

"Are you sure you're ok?" Caden asked, looking at me with uncertainty.

"Yes, I'll be fine," I paused, "I have to be. This is our one shot. I say we start going now, we can be at the summit in a couple of hours, we'll each get a couple of hours sleep, be up a good hour or two before dawn and then we can scope out the situation."

Jett looked at Caden, "Sounds like a plan to me."

"Let's go then."

It took us maybe two hours to reach the summit of the mountain. The careers must have cleared out because once we were there; there was no one to be seen. The summit was a wide, open plateau at had absolutely no tree cover, with a circumference of maybe two-hundred metres before it receded back into the forest line. We made camp set back twenty metres or so from the edge of the trees and made an informed decision not to set up the tent or make a fire, obviously. We each took two hour watch shifts, making sure that no one else came near us as the others slept, but nothing happened. While I was sure that there were other people around the edge of the summit no one was bold enough to come near us. Smart people.

As the darkness began to fade away I woke up both Caden and Jett and the three of us snuck up to the very fringe of the trees and tried to formulate a plan. The original idea was that Caden and I would create some kind of distraction and that Jett would run in and grab all three of our packs. I personally had wanted to be the one to run in, being the fastest and all, but for the millionth time I was outvoted. Damn democracy, it's a stupid system.

Once the plan was developed there was nothing to do but wait. The empty silence in itself was torture. In the end I had to say what everyone was thinking.

"So this is it then," I whispered, "This is make or break. We succeed we live, we don't we die. Simple."

"Don't worry," Jett comforted, giving my hand a light squeeze, "That's a good thing. It gives us something that nobody else has."

"Oh yeah?" I asked, "What's that?"

He smiled, "Absolutely nothing to lose."

"And everything to gain," Caden added in agreement.

I smiled. They were right. What's the worst that could happen? We die? That was already a guarantee if we didn't try. We could only gain something from this, life hopefully. I was just about to stupidly thank them for sticking with me through all of this and how glad I was that it was the two of them I had lived through this with when the very first rays of light broke through the clouds and over the mountain. And almost simultaneously the ground in the very middle of the summit seemed to part into two and emerging from it was a large round table with a snow-white table cloth covering it. On the table were eleven backpacks, six red, five blue, all ranging in sizes and each with a different number on it. It only took me a couple of seconds to remember that Claudius had said the backpacks were colour coded, presumably red meant it was for the girl tribute and blue for the boy. I silently let my feminist side cheer that there were more girls than boys still alive but decided that wasn't exactly relevant now. I scanned across the packs trying to find the red one with a twelve on it, noticing that there were no packs numbered with a five, six, eight, or eleven. It took me a couple of scans to find it, it was one of the smallest there, maybe only the size of my hand. But so was the blue pack marked with a twelve, and the blue pack marked with a one. So my best guess was that they all contained the same thing. I didn't fail to notice either that the biggest packs were the red packs from one and four and the blue pack from two. Will they ever defy a stereotype? I doubt it.

As soon as the table clicked into place I expected someone to make some kind of move. But there seemed to be a temporary stalemate across the summit, no one quite willing enough to make the first move. I knew there were other people here, I could sense it, and it was only a matter of time before someone took off and went in for their pack, and how easy would it be for them to just scoop up my pack and run along. I was just about to suggest that we make a break for it when I saw movement from across the other side of the clearing. A girl, smallish, definitely younger than me, with pale, strawberry blonde hair and chalky coloured skin dashed out into the opening, running wildly and madly, like something was chasing her, her focus never leaving the round table in her path. She got to perhaps ten metres within the table before the hissing sound of an object passing through the air whistled past and a spear became lodged in the girls back. She stopped, and from where she was I could see that it was Aylin, the girl from seven, she must have been the one I forgot this morning. Her pace twisted in anguish and I saw one solitary tear drip down her face before she keeled over and the cannon fired. I gripped onto the sheath of arrows at my waist in anticipation for the next person to go, but for a few stunned moments all was still.

Then all hell broke loose.


	31. The Feast

**The Feast**

Being a girl with a photographic memory, whenever I misused a word in an essay or a test my teachers would sit me down with a dictionary and just make me read over all the words I had put into the wrong context. Obviously after looking at the word for a few moments its definition was imprinted on my brain like a scar. Of course I told my teachers it took me up to ten minutes to commit a word to heart, hey if it meant not actually doing any work I wasn't going to turn down that opportunity was I, which meant I normally absorbed many more words than the teachers had planned, which of course came in handy when I could use words at a twelfth year level at age seven. One such word was paroxysm. Never heard of it? I'm not surprised. A paroxysm is defined as any sudden, violent outburst or a fit of violent action or emotion. Another such word was frenzy. You've probably heard of that one: a state or period of uncontrolled excitement, violence or wild behaviour or a temporary madness or delirium. I think that the scene that was unfolding before my very eyes up there on that mountain top can itself only be defined by a combination of these two words. This feast had erupted into a paroxysmal frenzy.

Everyone, it had appeared, had figured out that key factor that Jett, Caden and I had discovered prior to arriving this morning, that anyone who actually wanted to lay a hand on their precious pack had to be the first one at that table. As soon as Aylin went down everyone ran as fast as they could towards the table, the three of us included. Jett was in the middle, Caden on his left and I on his right and the three of us made a beeline straight towards the white table-clothed table. However, it is hard to stay completely focused on one specific goal, collecting the pack which will hopefully cure me of an apparent intracranial haemorrhage, when there are approximately seven other children running at the table as well, with swords...and spears...and crossbows...and maces...must I continue?

The plan was simple, run in, grab the three packs, run out. Jett would be the one to one in and actually collect the packs whilst Caden and I would watch his back and fight of any attackers. We had also decided not to take anybody else's packs since for one we probably wouldn't need them and two we didn't want to give anyone a reason to chase us. Simple on paper, in execution however, well there were a few, and by a few I mean many _colossal_, hitches.

Running towards the table I was feeling relatively confident. The three of us were leading the pack and it seemed like we were easily going to be the first ones to reach our supplies, however my confidence failed a little when I pulled my focus away from the area directly in front of me and I began looking at the entire picture. Everyone was there, well actually almost everyone, little Serenity from three was nowhere to be seen, which was probably a smart decision on her part, being that small isn't great for a full on confrontation. I turned my head to the right, prepared to fend off any oncoming attacks but there was only one person on my side, Porter from ten. I hoped beyond hope that he wasn't going to try and take me on because despite everything I didn't want to kill that adorable little kid. Luckily for me though his face was laced with a fixed determination and his gaze never wavered from what was directly in his line of sight, the table.

Caden however, was not quite so lucky. It appeared pretty much everyone was on the left side, his side, and that the fighting had already begun. Velvet was running gun-ho towards the table, chasing an older looking girl whose thick, golden ringlets were being blown and gusted by the wind around her. Angora, on the other hand, didn't appear at all interested in whatever prize awaited her; in fact she was running in a different direction to the others, straight towards us. Well in truth, it wasn't _us_ she was running for, no, her hateful, malicious glare was directed at a much more specific target than that, she was aiming solely for Caden. And Tripp, well he was following Velvet but his eyes were on us and his crossbow was at the ready...pointing at us. I think he saw me take notice of him because he gave me a quick smirk and blew me a quick kiss before giving a small wave and firing his arrow.

"Jett duck!" I screamed as I saw the arrow sailing through the air. Jett didn't even look to see what it was that was coming at him, he just dove straight to the ground so fast that the arrow never looked like hitting him. However while Jett was fast, Tripp wasn't much slower, he saw that Jett had avoided his attack and he quickly shot again at Jett on the ground.

"Keep moving," I yelled as Tripp lowered the crossbow, "Fast," I added, just in case that hadn't been implied. As Jett quickly got back up on his feet, making sure to keep low to the ground, and continued moving towards the table, I took some initiative and launched one of my many knives straight towards Tripp's head. Unfortunately he saw it and quickly jumped out of the way, watching it sail literally inches past his nose. Fortunately, he didn't see the second one I had fired off in time and though he did move so it didn't kill him it landed right in the middle of his left thigh. He doubled over at the impact and stopped running. Not the outcome I could have hoped for but it would have had to do for now.

We got to within maybe ten metres of the table when Angora finally caught up to us. She used the momentum she had from running, pulled her mace out from its support on her back, and spun a complete three-sixty while swinging the mace so it would crush into Caden's side. I almost thought for a second that that was it, that there was no way he could fend that kind of brute strength off and I was about to scream for him to move when he quickly turned his sword and caught the blow full on, staggering back a little, but apart from that he held strong. Angora kept hacking at him, swinging her mace with all the energy she had over and over so much that it looked like she might use so much force that her arm would fall off yet each strike Caden blocked, even though he was moving further and further backwards with every step, not that you could blame him, she was hitting _hard. _I considered helping Caden but in all honesty in a fight like this I would probably do more damage than good so instead I would focus on helping Jett collect the packs, which would ultimately save all of us after all.

Jett had gotten back up and was drawing nearer and nearer to the table when suddenly the sound of a cannon blasted through the air, causing me to jump and look around for whoever it was that had fallen. I turned to my right to see Velvet pull her scythe out of the golden haired girls back, a sardonic smile on her face as she wiped the blood off the scythe onto her t-shirt. I tried not to be completely repulsed but the truth was that it was just so brutally heartless. She was enjoying this; she was actually taking pleasure from killing other people, like that pretty golden haired girl. I was about to tell myself to snap out of it and make for the table when I heard another scream. But it wasn't a scream of pain, nor a scream of fear. No it was someone screaming in...rage. In fact, it was little Porter, his face distorted in a hot, blind fury as he finally diverted his course from the table straight to Velvet.

"You _killed_ her," he yelled as he sprinted towards Velvet, "She was so _nice_ and you just killed her!" he ran at her, his tiny knife held out in front of him like it was the mightiest weapon in the world. I realised then that the pretty girl with the golden ringlets must have been Selah, Porter's district partner. I'd never even got the chance to meet her, I guess now I never will, but it appeared that Porter had liked her, and it was hard watching that lovely little boy I had met became shadowed by a proud, vengeful attempted murderer. This was what the Hunger Games was all about, brutalising little children, proving to parents that their children cannot remain innocent whilst these threats are around. Mind you, I don't think I could blame Porter. I imagine if that had been Caden who had just fallen off Velvet's scythe, well, blind fury wouldn't even come close.

"Porter don't!" I yelled without thinking, but he wasn't listening to me. He just ran in, no intention of backing down, absolutely fearless. I could see the twisted little smile creeping up the side of Velvet's face as Porter edged closer and closer towards her and I couldn't help but plead within myself that she would suddenly develop a conscience and that she would see that he was only a little boy and spare him. But this was Velvet we were talking about. No. Chance. In. Hell. Once he was close enough Porter dove straight for her, holding the knife out in front of him. Velvet almost laughed at his attempt. She held her left hand out to stop the momentum and with her right hand she plunged her scythe into his chest. It was that easy. She held it there for a few agonising seconds, just long enough for him to feel the pain, before pulling it out and throwing Porter's body to the ground and stepping over it to move closer to the table. The cannon sounded, that was it, Porter was dead.

I felt vehemence crawling all over my skin and noticed the rush of adrenaline searing through my veins. I started towards Velvet, my hands itching near my knives, finally going to finish this bitch off once and for all when Jett caught hold of my shoulder and begun pulling me towards the table.

"Eora come on," he said pulling me in the complete opposite direction I wanted to go in, "Not now."

"Yes _now_," I screamed, trying to haul myself away from him to go get Velvet, "Didn't you see what she just _did_?"

He turned me around, being the much stronger of the two of us of course he won out, and started pushing me towards the table, "I know, and there will be a time to make her pay. But right now you're still dying and I think that saving yourself should be a priority, don't you?"

It took all my strength not to start attacking_ him_ just so I could get to Velvet but in the end I just had to fight the overwhelming blood lust I was feeling and focus. We had finally reached the table and while Jett rushed to get his pack I found mine and Caden's. They were very small, barely the size of my palm but that just made them easier to manage. I was about to turn away from the table and start making a run for it when I saw Aylin from seven's pack. It was bigger than mine, but only maybe the size of a loaf of bread. I couldn't help but wonder what it was she had come for, something she had needed so badly she had died for it. In the end curiosity got the better of me, and, let's face it, she wouldn't exactly be needing it now would she, so I took it and swung it onto my back.

"Let's go," I shouted at Jett and as the two of us turned around we saw two figures approaching us, at a rapid pace. Tripp and Velvet. Brilliant.

Tripp held out his crossbow to fire at us but once again Jett was faster. He flung out his shoge so that the chain wrapped around the neck of the crossbow before he pulled away so that the crossbow went flying out behind him. Tripp stopped in his tracks for a few moments, allowing time to absorb the shock of losing his weapon, before advancing again.

"I'll take Velvet," Jett ordered quickly, "You take Tripp."

Great, by all means you take the hundred pound five foot six girl and give me the two hundred pound, six foot two red head. That seems fair. I guess you could argue that Jett's shoge would be better against Velvet's scythe but hey, that doesn't mean I was going to be able to survive against Tripp. As the two approached is I glanced around nervously looking for some potential exit but there didn't seem to be one anywhere. I did however notice that Caden was no longer alone in battling Angora. Once again Davion had appeared out of nowhere to help, using his pickaxe to try and lay a blow on Angora, but she was good. They were going to have to do much more if they wanted to take her down.

I almost watched for way too long because as soon as I turned around Tripp was almost on top of me, only a couple of metres away. I didn't have time to pull out a knife to defend myself so it looked like it was going to be hand-on-hand combat for now...against someone practically double my size...fantastic.

As he ran he wound up a huge punch before throwing it straight at my head. I ducked before quickly turning and throwing my forearm out so it hit the back of his neck, which did practically nothing. Whoops. Tripp was back around and throwing punches in no time, a couple of which I blocked but most I just dodged. He did however get one quick jab into my ribcage which had me stunned for a few helpless moments but luckily I managed to duck away before he delivered another blow. I turned back around to face him when I saw him swing a huge roundhouse punch towards me. I bent backwards and felt his knuckles swish past my nose. Suddenly he had both of his huge, clammy hands on both of my shoulders and was about to attack when my gut reaction kicked in and I quickly snap kicked him right in the chest. He staggered back as all the wind was knocked out of him but he didn't stay down for long. Out of nowhere he jumped up off his right root and swung his left foot out in a flying roundhouse kick. I quickly dropped to the floor, my legs spread out and my hands supporting me as well, and as soon as he landed I put all my weight onto my right leg and swept my left leg out, taking out his legs. He crashed to the ground with a large, "thud."

I took the tiniest fleeting instance I had to make a break for it. I turned and was about to grab Jett and speed off when I felt a tight grip around my ankle and before I knew it I had been pulled to the floor and had crashed on the dirt. I struggled and kicked with all my might as Tripp reeled me in closer to him but his grip was like an iron trap. I did however manage to crunch my foot into his face at one point, which I'll admit made me feel good, probably just pissed him off even more. He pulled me in and grabbed me in a headlock, squeezing me around my neck so tight that I quickly lost all flow of oxygen. I thrashed and kicked against him but in reality there was not much I could do against someone as big as he was. I flung my elbow out in desperation and felt it connect with muscled flesh, probably somewhere between his rib cage and his pelvis, but even though he flinched for a moment he didn't relent. I could feel my head starting to lighten from the lack of oxygen and decided that now was probably as good a time as any to bring out the knives, actually cursing myself for not doing so earlier. I quickly reached down and grabbed the closest one from my sheath and drew it across the forearm that was holding me as quickly as I could. That got his attention. He yelped in pain and pulled his arms back away from me, finally releasing me from his grasp and I coughed and spluttered as I made my run for it.

I motioned for Jett to hurry as I ran past him, after which he quickly jabbed the knife part of his shoge out towards Velvet, causing her to retreat a couple of paces, before wrapping the chain around her wrist and using it to fling her to the ground. With that opening he turned to join me and run when I heard Velvet yelling from behind us.

"Why are you fighting for _her_?" I heard her shriek, from much closer than I would have thought. I continued to run but I quickly turned my head around so that I could see what was going on, just in time to see Velvet catch up to Jett and draw her scythe across the width of his back. I screamed and I stopped in my tracks, beginning to turn around to face Jett but I hadn't been the only one. Velvet howled as she took in the sight of what she had done and raised her hand to her mouth in distress. It was obvious that Jett was in pain, serious pain, you could see it in the way his face contorted in agony and how his body looked like it could go limp at any second, but he just winced and continued to run. I let him get ahead of me so I could see his wound and I cringed at the sight of it. It was a long, jagged gash that extended at least ten inches across his back and from the look of it looked deep, really deep. As well as that it was bleeding heavily and I wasn't sure how long Jett would be able to go before it started to drain him. Once we got within range I hurled another one of my arrows at Angora, in an attempt basically just to scare her off long enough to let Caden get away.

As Angora saw Jett and I approaching she seemed to groan and look with uncertainty between Caden and Davion and Jett and I who were rapidly approaching. She seemed to weigh the odds in her head before swiftly swing one last huge blow before tearing herself away from the fight with Caden and Davion and sprinting back to where Velvet and Tripp were now sorting through the packs on the table. Davion went to go after her when he heard my footsteps behind him and swung his pickaxe around and held it out defensively in front of him. Once he saw that it was only me he lowered it, before giving me a quick nod, and heading after Angora. How the hell did he keep doing that? Just randomly turning up, fighting with us, not even attempting to attack us when he'd had every chance to, and then disappearing without any kind of explanation. I made a mental note to figure out what the hell he was up to at some point but for now we needed to get off this mountain top.

"We got them," I yelled at Caden, who was looking terribly out of breath, "Let's go!"

The three of us turned towards the edge of the clearing, where the foliage returned and headed straight for it and we were maybe ten metres from the edge when I saw something small and deathly fast coming towards me out of the corner of my eye. I turned around to face it but before I even had a chance I was hit by something coming at full speed and was tackled onto the ground. I rolled over so that I was facing up to the sky when I saw an arrow fly over the top of me, almost exactly where I would have been if I hadn't been taken down.

"Come on. _Get up_!" yelled a light, high pitched voice as I felt a small hand tugging my wrist. I turned over again to see a tiny little girl, whose white blonde hair had fallen all around her snow white face in messy wisps as she tried to pull me up. Serenity, the last twelve year old, the one I had saved. The little girl, who, it appeared, had just returned the favour. I didn't bother asking questions, this wasn't the time and/or place. Caden was quickly beside me, a hand extended out to me, which I took thankfully and used as an anchor to pull myself back up. I could hear the careers yelling and shouting from behind us, which probably meant they were trying to catch us again, which was only more inspiration to hurry the hell up. Once I was back up on my feet we were out of the clearing in no time, but none of us stopped for even a second, we just continued to bash through the foliage until we thought we were a safe distance from the clearing before slowing down. I turned to Serenity.

"You saved my lif-" I started but she cut me off.

"Next time," she butted in, her gorgeous little voice deceiving considering her actual strength, "Kill me."

"What?" I asked, not able to hide the alarm and confusion in my voice.

"Next time you see me I want you to kill me," she said defiantly, "Or at least, try to."

"What? Why?" I stammered like an idiot.

I could see her eyes glazing over with tears but she was trying her hardest not to let them fall, "You saved me. I saved you. Now everything is even. But if you keep saving me I won't be able to kill you," she paused, her pitch raising a little, "And I need to kill you to win this."

"But we could help you-" I began again, pleading, but she cut me off again.

"No," she spat, "I'm little, but I'm smart. I don't need anyone's help." She turned away from us as though she was about to leave. I noticed then that on her back was a large red pack with a number three on it. When did she make it to the table? Hmm...perhaps she didn't need any help from anyone. She turned back around and looked at me with a fire in her eyes.

"I want you to promise me you won't try and save me anymore," she said sternly.

"But-"

"_Promise_." She demanded.

I sighed and bowed my head, "I promise I won't try and save you anymore."

"Good," she nodded before turning away from the three of us, darting off into the forest around us and disappearing.

The three of us continued to travel down towards the base of the mountain. We wanted to put as much distance between us and the careers if possible, and that meant getting as far as we possibly could before nightfall. We walked for maybe an hour but I knew we had to find somewhere to stop soon, Jett was fading fast and we had to do something about that wound. I think deep in my heart I knew we were going to have to stitch it up but I wasn't quite willing to admit it yet. As well made out way down towards the base I noticed the entrance to a cave just below us.

"Guys," I shouted out, "I think we should stop here for the night."

Neither one of them was really in a shape to disagree, none of us had had much sleep and we were all worn out from fighting. Whilst this was the first battle we had had that I hadn't come out bleeding my throat was still hurting a little from being caught in Tripp's headlock and I was wondering whether or not his jab in the ribs had bruised me or broken one of my ribs because that area was really starting to hurt.

Once we were all inside the cave we decided to check and see what was in the packs. I tossed Caden his before I opened mine. Inside was a tiny white case inside which were two small, blue pills. I almost laughed at it. We had literally risked our lives for two little pills each? It could have been ironic if we weren't in such a dire situation. I looked over at Caden and Jett and both of them seemed to have the same fascinated expressions on their faces that I must have had on my face. I did notice however, that their pills were orange, a different colour to mine. I guess that answered it then didn't it. I must already have the intracranial haemorrhage and therefore I need a different type of medication to fix it. Either that or the medication was different for different genders, unlikely but possible. We all quickly brought out our flasks and all took our pills as quickly as possible. Once I had swallowed mine I looked over at Caden and Jett and couldn't keep the stupid grin off my face.

"We did it," I said gleefully, "We're not going to die."

The both laughed at me but the joy in the room quickly evaporated as Jett stood up, before falling unconscious to the floor.

"Jett," I yelled as I ran over to where he had fallen. He was burning up and I could hear small breaths escaping from his mouth but he was completely passed out.

"We need to do something about this wound," I said quickly, moving to take off his shirt, "can you help me stop the bleeding?"

Caden crouched down next to me to look at Jett's injury before pausing.

"What?" I demanded.

"I think you're going to have to stitch it," he said regretfully.

"_I'm_ going to have to stitch it?" I asked incredulously.

"Well I'm sure as hell not going to be the one to do it," Caden said with a shake of his head, "I mean I only stitched you up because...you know...it was _you_..." we both blushed, "Besides I've already done it once so it's your turn."

"You do realise that if you stick to your theory then Jett will be the one who gets to stitch you up."

Caden laughed as he held out the suture kit to me, "You have to promise me you will never let that guy come within one hundred metres of me with a needle."

I laughed nervously, looking from Jett's wound to the suture kit and back, feeling a little nauseous again, "I don't think I can..."

Caden smiled sympathetically, "He's out cold. He won't feel a thing."

I groaned and took the suture kit from him. My hands were shaking as I attempted to thread the needle and once I had eventually done it I looked down at Jett with a horrible feeling in my stomach. I took a deep breath and started murmuring "okay" to myself over and over when I quickly put the needle through the first side of the wound. I looked over to see if Jett had stirred at all but he hadn't even moved. I took a few more breaths before continuing on, trying to keep the stitches even and smooth but they turned out pretty jagged and rough, what can I say Alara was the seamstress in our house. Once I had finished Jett was still completely unconscious so I just put a thin layer of bandage around him before laying him softly on his back on top of the sleeping bag. When I turned around Caden was standing over in the corner holding Aylin's red pack with a seven on it.

"What's this?" he asked quizzically.

"It's Aylin's pack," I said quietly, "When we were at the table I couldn't help wondering what it was she had died for so I took it. I know that probably wasn't the right thing to do but...I still did it."

Caden looked down sceptically at the pack in his hands, "Should we open it?"

I shrugged, "I guess."

Caden slowly unzipped the medium sized red pack before pulling out a large, silver pot, with a lid that had obviously been fastened down so that the contents wouldn't spill out whilst anyone was running with it. I was almost disappointed for a second that it was just food that Aylin had died for when I saw Caden holding onto a small, folded envelope that had been attached to the pot by string. He held it up so that I could see who it was addressed to. On the front of the letter, handwritten in an elegant cursive scrawl were the words, "My Darling Daughter."

I frowned for a second, "I've never heard of people receiving notes from home."

Caden nodded, "Me neither. All though..." he trailed off, looking like he was deep in thought.

"What?"

He paused, "Well, I have heard of people getting notes from their mentors..."

Ah, hint taken, "You don't think..."

He shrugged, "Well there's every chance she could have been a victors daughter. It's not like either one of us knew her at all."

As a victor you get given so much, wealth, fame, a new huge house, the one thing you're not protected from is the Hunger Games. While there's no chance that you'll ever be drawn out again victor's have to go and mentor future tributes from their district and most of them, Haymitch being and excellent example, don't particularly deal with it well. As well as that if you won, got married and had children there would be nothing saving your children from being reaped. In fact, whenever a victor's child is reaped it's normally just extra entertainment for everyone, and they normally have really low odds, being rich and spoilt after all.

"True," I said as I thumbed over the front of the envelope. I was just about to open it and see what it said when Caden pulled it out of my hand and threw it on the fire he had constructed while I was doing Jett's stitches.

"Caden," I yelled, trying to salvage the letter from the fire but he held me back, "Aylin died for that letter!"

"All the more reason to burn it," Caden defended, "It was written for her and her alone. We have no business reading something private of hers. She died not knowing whatever it is that was in there, it would be an insult to her memory if we were to know what it said."

I stopped pulling against him and sighed, "You're right. You're always right."

Caden laughed, "I know. It's such a burden."

I hit him on the arm playfully and he feigned injury.

"So can we eat her food or would that be an insult to her memory as well genius?" I questioned him teasingly.

He smiled, "Food is food. There's nothing special or private about it. I say we honour Aylin's memory by not letting it go to waste," he said humourously.

"Here here," I agreed sitting down next to him. He took the lid off the pot and a whole lot of steam came rushing out in one fell swoop, "We may have to let it cool first."

"Agreed."

I walked over and crouched down next to Jett, making sure he was still alive. His breath was short and uneven and his pulse was weak but he was still alive. Barely. Since all we were doing was waiting, waiting for the pot to cool, waiting for Jett to wake up, I decided to pace. Back and forth across the cave. Caden looked at me with a certain humour in his eyes.

"What?" I demanded.

"You're pacing," he said with a tone that suggested he was teasing me.

"So?"

"Nothing," he said averting his eyes from mine, but still a little smirk crept up the side of his mouth.

"Urgh you sound just like Jett did when..." I trailed off deciding this was probably not the best topic to bring up.

However my silence caught his attention and his head snapped back up, "I sound like Jett did when?" he asked, obviously I'd stirred up some interest.

"Nothing," I stalled, "Forget I said anything."

"Aww come on Eora," he said, standing up so that he could look down at me with big, pleading fake puppy dog eyes.

"It was just what he said the first day he found us," I splattered, trying to evade the point, "About me pacing." Crap, shouldn't have said that.

He looked puzzled, "Why were you pacing?" he asked lightly.

"No reason," I said to quickly, so quickly that it was quite obviously a cover up. Caden just looked at me with those, 'I can see straight through you eyes' that made me want to melt.

"Okay, okay it was just something Jett had said that had freaked me out."

"What did he say?" Caden asked in a tone that was supposed to sound nonchalant but really it sounded anything but. This was turning in to something of an interrogation.

"I can't remember," I said blindly.

"Eora," he said and I groaned.

"Ok ok I asked him where you were when he showed up out of nowhere and he said you were 'six feet under' or something and I freaked out but he was just joking and then after you took forever to come back I started pacing because I was worried about you. Okay I said it. I was worried about you. There, you happy?" I realised I had practically said that whole speech in one breath so I could have guessed that pretty much none of it was audible but from the expression on Caden's face I doubted it.

He smiled at me and looked at me in that way that my skin tingle all over and made me feel all dizzy and lightheaded, but I'll blame all those horrible side effects on the headlock from this morning, "I told you you don't have to worry about me, " he smiled at me tenderly, "I'll be fine. No matter what happens I'll always be fine.

I hung my head so I couldn't see into his face and so that I could learn how to breathe again because right then my lungs were failing me, "Of course I do."

"Why?"

"Because..." I trailed off, "Because I...I care about you Caden. And that's what people who care do, they worry." Damn it Eora, stop talking. You're just digging yourself into a deeper hole here.

"I know," Caden said softly, whispering into my ear, "I know you care. I know."

We stood there for a while, neither one of us really wanting to break the silence, until I couldn't take it anymore. I quickly stepped away and went to sit down next to Jett.

"He's been out a really long time," I murmured awkwardly, trying to find a new topic of conversation, "If only we knew how to wake him up."

"Hmm..." Caden mused, walking over to stand over Jett's head, both of our water flasks in his hand, 'I wonder...well worth a try." He quickly undid the caps to the water flasks and before I could even mouth a protest Caden had poured both of the flasks over Jett's head. Jett sat up with a start, looking around the cave in confusion, breathing heavily and grasping onto the sleeping bag underneath him with both hands.

"Caden," I chided, hitting him lightly on the arm.

"What?" he defended with a devilish grin, "It worked didn't it." He laughed, "I'll go find some more water since I used most of it up. Don't eat the food without me."

"Okay," I promised before turning back to Jett, "Hey. How do you feel?"

"Like crap," Jett croaked once he had finally gotten a grip on what was going on around him, "And really tired."

I smiled, "Then you might as well get some sleep. It's not like we're going anywhere."

Jett yawned, "Ok," he turned to lie on his side before turning back around to face me, "Hey Eora?"

"Yeah?"

"I had you worried didn't I?" he said with an evil smirk.

I laughed, "Of course you had me worried, you collapsed on the floor you big buffoon. Now go to sleep."

He laughed, a choky, raspy laugh, "If you say so boss." But as soon as he had closed his eyes he was contently snoring away, deep in sleep.

Caden had been gone maybe ten minutes and I had contented myself to stirring the food in the pot when all of a sudden the ground started shaking underneath me. I could feel the earth rumbling and I could see the earth above us starting to fracture. I moved back further into the cave to avoid a falling rock that landed maybe a foot from where I had been sitting. It was so strong that I thought it might just be enough to split the entire mountain in two, but instead, what happened was worse. Rocks started falling from the cave's entrance, one by one pilling up on top of each other. I had to shield my eyes from all the flying rubble, dirt and debris but I knew deep in my core that this wasn't good. Once the earthquake appeared to have finished and I opened my eyes I feared I had gone blind. I quite literally couldn't see anything. It was completely pitch black in here. I stumbled over to where I remembered the entrance to the cave to be but instead all I found was a rough uneven wall of stone that didn't let in even the faintest ray of light. I tired pushing it put it was helpless, there was no moving this rock.

I was trapped inside this cave with absolutely no way of getting out.

**Hello all my lovely readers! I haven't talked to you guys in a while but hey you guys want the story not me right? Anywho things are really starting to heat up here, not much longer to go now before we find out who will be the victor of the 58****th**** Hunger Games! Any guesses?**

**Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Please review and I promise to update ASAP.**

**Xx C**


	32. Trapped

_**Trapped**_

Back in district twelve, there were plenty of horror stories around about what happened to those who got caught in the mines. People who got caved in and ran out of oxygen, miners who got killed by gas in the mines, even those who just disappeared beneath the earth, never to be seen again. Almost everyone had heard of someone, known someone, loved someone, who died trapped in the mines, myself included, and none of the stories ever sounded in anyway peaceful for those who suffered through them. But my friend Elodie, her grandfather had debatably the worst of them all, what we in twelve liked to call 'shellshock.' When he was younger, much younger, and was working in the mines, the power to his section of the mines was cut and he was plunged into complete darkness. At the time he told me the story he described it as a feeling as close to death as he could have ever imagined, just total nothingness. Your senses become heightened, every sound seems to boom against the walls, everything you touch feels more defined and every smell becomes so strong that you can practically taste it on your tongue. Yet with all the movement and all the adrenaline that was being pumped through his veins by his racing heart, he was completely paralysed in fear. His body seemed to fail him, the very action of breathing seeming impossible, movement became unattainable, he just shut down. He was like that for what he now knew was only twenty minutes, but to him it felt like an eternity. From that point on he never took a step back below ground again. I could never quite empathise with him, it seemed incomprehensible to me, this sensation that he had been forced to live through, and relive every day of his life. But the minute those rocks came crashing down in front of me and I stood in the complete darkness for a few moments I had a sudden respect for the poor old man.

I could feel my heartbeat soaring beneath my chest as the reality of my new position dawned on me. One word seemed to just echo throughout my brain, over and over. _Trapped...trapped...trapped._ I compulsively started shaking, my whole body trembling and quivering, just like it had before my training session, and just like before I started hyperventilating again, my breath coming in rough, uneven gasps as the fear started to seep through me. I looked around, straining my eyes for some kind of shape, a line, a shade, but all I got was blackness that seemed endless, extending into every nonexistent corner of my vision. My newly attuned ears heard some loud movement coming from my left and I screamed as I turned towards it.

"Eora," I heard a voice yell, much too loud for my heightened sense of hearing, "Eora, it's me, it's me, don't be scared."

I searched through my scattered brain trying to put a face to that voice, "Jett?" I whispered, not wanting to yell in case his hearing was as sensitive as mine now, "Jett, where are you?" As I tried to face wherever the sound was coming from I cursed myself for being so stupid as to forget that he was down here with me, he had been sleeping next to me when the earthquake started.

"I'm here," he boomed back, making me flinch, "Just follow my voice."

"Alright," I whimpered back, trying not to let my fear show. As I tried to go towards where I thought his voice was emanating from I continually flung my arms out around me, deciding that by creating a greater surface area around me there would be a higher chance of finding him, even if it did mean potentially hitting him in the face.

"I can't-" I stammered, "I can't see you. I can't see anything." I could feel tears burning at the back of my eyes but I fought them back with what little will power I still had left.

"It's ok," he cooed, his voice seeming closer than before, "I'm right here, I'll find you."

I was just about to completely give up and break down when I felt something soft brush across the tip of my outstretched fingertips, causing my heart to flutter in hopeful anticipation. I took one raced step forwards and reached out further and felt my hand collide with soft, warm flesh. I quickly wrapped my fingers around it, before realising it was Jett's forearm. I felt his hand come up and grab onto mine, probably wondering what it was, before he took it off his arm and used it to quickly pull me in towards him. He wrapped one arm around my waist, the other went to the back of my head as he pressed me against him. I wrapped my arms around him, feeling his lithe, muscled torso under my fingers. I was measuring him against me and using what I could feel to try and gauge his height and size to make a mental picture to make up for the lack of vision. With my head leaning against his chest I could hear his steady heartbeat beneath his skin and I could feel his warm breath brush against my cheek.

"Are you okay?" he whispered into my ear, the warmth of his breath making my skin tingle and even though I couldn't see him I could feel how close his lips were to my face and it made me feel surprisingly nervous.

I laughed feebly, a fake, half hearted, pathetic attempt to make light of how horrible this situation really was for me, "Physically? Yeah I'm fine."

"And what about...mentally?" he questioned sympathetically, "How are you holding up?"

"I-"my voice caught as I tried to speak. I just didn't have the words to explain just what was going through my head. I sighed and lent the side of my head against his chest, "My vocabulary is failing me right now. You have no idea-" Nup, it just wasn't going to happen, there were just no words.

His grip around me tightened protectively and he softly stroked his fingers through wisps of my hair, "No idea about what?"

I took a deep breath and tried to keep myself calm and rational, because if I let myself go for even one second I could complete fly off the handle. I did that nervous, pitiable little laugh again without meaning to, "It's just-for a district twelve tribute- this is pretty much as bad as it gets," I explained, "Trapped under the ground, no light, no idea where the hell you are or what's around you. Pretty much every little kid in twelve's worst nightmare."

"The mines," he said with understanding and sympathy dawning in his voice, "I'm sorry, I forgot. This must be a million times worse for you than it is for me, which is saying something," he took a deep breath, "But it's ok. Nothing's going to happen to us, there's nothing else down here and we'll get out of here in no time."

"Right," I said, trying as hard as was physically possible to keep the sarcasm out of my voice, more to convince him than myself, "Can you remember where the cave entrance was?" I asked hopefully.

I could feel it as he shook his head, "I can visualise where it was, but I have no idea where we are or which direction we're facing."

I forced a deep breath of air down my lungs to stop from panicking and pulled away from his embrace slowly, "Ok then, we should feel along the walls and see if we can find our way back to the entrance. I was there before; it should feel rougher and more uneven than the walls." I went to walk to my side but Jett quickly entwined his fingers in mine before following me.

"So I don't lose you again," he explained softly and I gave his hand a small squeeze, signally that I understood. We were stuck down here together and I didn't know if I could make it through all this if he wasn't here with me. Does that make me a horrible person, to be glad that someone else is in a life threatening position if it makes me feel better? Of course it does, but hey, we already knew that about me.

I felt something cold and hard beneath my palm, rock. I lightly brushed my right hand, the one Jett wasn't holding on to, across its surface but this definitely wasn't the rough, jagged surface I had found before. This had to be one of the walls.

"Alright," I sighed, "This is a wall. So do we go left or right to try and find the entrance? Your call."

I heard him take a deep breath, "Left," he said as he slowly pulled me along behind him, keeping my hand against the wall of solid rock next to me, "If we walk this way for more than five minutes and don't reach the caved in entrance we know we've walked in the wrong direction and then turn around."

"Okay," I whispered back, "We shouldn't be far from the front. I'll keep my hand on the wall so we don't lose it, you keep your hand out in front so you can feel for the incoming wall."

"Okay."

Our steps were slow and tentative, which was understandable considering that neither of us had the slightest clue what we were about to run into. Luckily, I was right about us not being far away and in less than a minute Jett stopped in front of me.

"Shit," he spat quickly and I could feel him shaking his hand, the one that wasn't linked with mine, and heard him wince before giving a small laugh, "Well I think I found the entrance. And you were right, it's definitely jagged."

I pulled myself in towards him so that I was standing next to him rather than behind him and outstretched my hand slowly to meet the rock I knew would be there. Even though I knew it was coming, it was still a shock to feel the cool, uneven stone beneath my skin.

"Did you cut your hand?" I asked anxiously as I softly moved my hand around the surface of what used to be our entrance.

He was silent for a second and though I couldn't see him I could hear him raise his palm and quickly press it against his mouth, and for a second I didn't understand what the hell he was doing until he spoke, "I don't think so, there's no blood."

I sighed in relief, the last thing we needed was him injured. Wait. He _was_ injured. Not an hour ago he had dropped to the floor unconscious and now he was standing strong? No way, every human being had limits, even Jett who had so often seemed invincible, and he had to be nearing his.

"Jett," I exclaimed, horrified at myself that I had forgotten what bad shape he was in, "You shouldn't be standing up. You were terribly hurt, you collapsed, you should be resting."

He laughed at me, "Are you kidding? The walls come down around us and you want me to lie down and do nothing just because I have a scratch on my back? No chance."

"But your back-"

"Is just a minor flesh wound," he said, his calm and even tone failing to convince me, "The best thing either of us can do for me is get me the hell out of this cave."

I paused and glared at him with all my might, even though he couldn't see me and I couldn't be sure I was actually glaring at him because, well, I couldn't see him.

"The _second_ we get out of this cave you are going to lie down and do absolutely everything I say," I commanded in a tone that showed I was not to be reckoned with, "The _second_. Understood?"

He laughed at me again and I felt him move his hand in what I imagine was a mock salute, "Yes ma'am." I then heard him turn so he was facing the collapsed entrance in front of us. He let out a small exasperated sigh and an irritated groan.

"I don't think it's going to budge," he said reluctantly, "I pushed it with all I had and...Nothing."

I felt my breath starting to shorten but convinced myself to think rather than freak out, "Well what if we push together?" I queried, trying to keep the desperation out of my voice.

I felt him shrug his shoulders next to me, "Worth a shot." Making sure to keep his fingers entwined in mine he raised our linked hands and put them against the stone. I raised my other hand to the same height, "If we're going to have any luck it'll be on the higher rocks," he murmured, lifting our hands up as high as I could reach, "There will be less weight pinning them down."

I nodded and took a deep breath, "On three. One..."

"Two..." I felt the muscles in his hands compress as he braced himself to push.

"Three," I yelled and I pushed with all the strength I had. I used every single muscle in my body, putting all my weight into it, pushing so hard I thought I must be cutting my hands, and nothing. It didn't shift even an inch, I couldn't hear the slightest pebble fall away. There was nothing we could do to clear it, we were helpless, we were doomed, we were trapped.

I sunk to the floor and bowed my head, trying to control my quivering body and my rapidly beating heart. I did everything in my power to try and manage my breathing but no matter how hard I tried to be rational there was just no overcoming the fear. It paralysed me, it removed all coherent thoughts from my brain to the point where no amount of logic would suppress it. With my legs folded beneath me I tried to wrap my right arm around my stomach and curl myself into a tiny little ball where I could just freak out and let myself plunge into this pit of darkness that was surrounding me.

However, as tempting as that plan was, Jett was down on the ground with me in an instant and quickly wrapped the arm that wasn't holding on to my hand around my shoulders and pulled me in so I could lay my head on his strong, broad shoulder. Despite my hysteria not a tear would fall from my eyes, for which I was insanely glad because the last thing I needed was to look like even more of a coward in front of all the potential sponsors.

"Shhh," he whispered gently, tightening his grasp on me, "It's okay. I know it's hard but we'll get out of here, I promise you we'll get out of here."

I shook my head, "You can't promise that," I took a deep breath, his embrace was actually helping me with the shaking and the hysterics, "I know you're trying to help but it'll be better if we're just honest. You can't promise that."

"Actually I can," he murmured, his lips much closer to mine than I had realised, "In fact I am so confident that we will get out of this cave that I'm not even worried."

"Oh really?" I asked, surprised at how playful my voice sounded considering the situation, "And why's that."

I hear him quickly exhale his breath before starting again, "Because I have every knowledge that your Caden is spending every waking minute trying to figure out a way to get us out of here. And hopefully he'll have a lot more luck on his side than we did on ours."

_Caden_. I felt my heart beat quicken just at the sound of his name. He was outside when the earthquake started. I am the biggest idiot on the entire planet, not to mention the most selfish one. In my delirium and obsession over my fears I had completely forgotten that he was out there. God he must be going absolutely crazy out there, and I'd be willing to bet that not for one second did he forget about _me_ because of _his_ own problems. Once again, I'm a horrible person who should not be allowed to have friends that care about her so much because in all honesty, I don't deserve them. But then another, much more distressing thought came to mind. The earthquake. What if...no he couldn't be...you can't start thinking like this Eora.

"If he's even alive," I breathed, unable to hide the despair I was feeling.

Jett's body stiffened for a second, "Of course he's alive."

"Well think about it Jett," I argued, "the earthquake definitely wasn't localised to this area. Any number of terrible things could have happened to him and it's not like we would have heard the cannon. In fact for all we know you and I could be the only two left alive." In my mind I prayed desperately that that wasn't the case. I couldn't lose him. Not now, not when I was so close to breaking.

"Or," he disputed, "Everyone out there could be fine and there could still be half a dozen other people alive."

I stopped for a second. Half a dozen people? That wasn't right; it had to be more than that. Let me think, this morning there were eleven people still left alive, and three died this morning at the feast, Aylin, Porter and Selah. He was right then, there were only eight of us left, me, Jett, Velvet, Angora, Tripp, Davion, Serenity and Caden. How did that happen? It seems like only yesterday we were all thrown into this hellhole and now...

"Holy hell," I murmured to myself, before pulling back and holding onto Jett's wrist, "We're down to the final eight!"

He took my hand in both of his, "I know," I couldn't see him but I could hear from his voice that he was smiling as much as I was, "I almost can't believe it."

When sixteen tributes have been killed off and the games are down to the last eight alive the close friends and family of all the remaining tributes are interviewed and shown to the public. They get asked things like how they're feeling about their tribute making it this far, what they are worried about and how they'll feel if the tribute doesn't win. The very idea that they'd be going to talk to Alara and Dori and Raine made my stomach churn. How could they ask my sisters anything? I wondered if they'd even been watching, whether or not Alara had explained everything to them, that I might not come back ever again. I took a deep breath to quell the oncoming homesickness and lightly hit Jett on the arm, well I meant to but I kind of swung and missed so I just scraped him.

"Yeah right," I said with another smile, "I bet that the capitol film crews interviewed your family in advance because they knew you were going to make it."

He laughed a little, "I doubt it. I imagine there's really no guarantees with this kind of thing, is there? I mean, anything could happen."

"Yeah well this year isn't exactly anything unusual is it," I challenged, "Just look at the final eight. Of the ones who are left there are three careers, you and Caden who both scored tens, and Davion who always looked like a dark horse. Apart from Serenity and me, I could have picked those last six the minute the training scores came out."

I was expecting some kind of quirky response but Jett just let out a little laugh and squeezed my hand even tighter, without giving any explanation.

"What?" I asked, kind of confused.

He took his left arm and wrapped it around the side of my waist, pulling me in so I was sitting on his left, "You didn't count me as one of the careers."

I shuffled awkwardly, "Well...you're not one of them Jett," I paused for a second, "not to me anyway."

He gently brushed his lips against my forehead and I felt myself stiffen as he did, unsure what to do. Luckily, I didn't have to do anything, almost as though it never happened he moved back, not before whispering a quick but sincere, "Thank you," in my ear, which made me shiver slightly. I had no idea what to say and for the first time I was actually glad that we were in complete blindness because Jett couldn't see the blush on my cheeks or my expression of complete and utter bewilderment. Since I had turned into an awkward mute I just leant my head into his chest and sat there hoping desperately that he wouldn't try and to bring up any kind of conversation that would take us down a path I had no intention of walking. So we sat, in silence, until Jett spoke up.

"What do you think our odds are?" he whispered, almost like a little kid who knew he was about to get busted for something.

"What?" I asked, absolutely no idea what he was asking me.

"You know, our odds," he explained quickly, "How much do you reckon people are betting on us? How much will they get paid if we win, you know, assuming the gamemakers haven't already fixed it so that someone they want to win wins?"

My eyes widened in shock as I was stunned completely silent. If I wasn't so terrified for the two of us already I would have had a mental breakdown and freaked out thinking he was going to be shot then and there. This is the _Hunger Games_, no one, and I mean _no one_, talks like that ever, especially not tributes. It's practically blasphemy, by even discussing borderline topics like this you're basically asking for the gamemakers to make your life a living hell, as if it wasn't already.

"Jett," I spat through closed teeth, and I couldn't help but look around anxiously, despite the whole being blind thing, "You can't talk like that."

He snorted, "Come on, what's the worse they can do? Kill me? Right now that's open to invitation."

I couldn't believe I was hearing those words coming from Jett's mouth. Was he insane? How could he be talking like this, out loud, on live television? Did he have a death wish? The gamemakers will let a lot of crap go down during the Hunger Games but the one thing they don't tolerate is disobedience, or being made a mockery of. They want us all to know our own place, them on top, us about a million miles below. He couldn't say these things and not expect there to be repercussions. No one in the capitol would want anyone to be hearing what Jett was saying, in fact, I'd be willing to bet that we were very quickly being edited out of the film right now.

"Stop it Jett," I advised solemnly, hoping that he'd take the damn hint.

"Okay, I'll shut up if you tell me what you think our odds would be." How could he sound so damn mischievous at a time like this?

I let out an exaggerated sigh, "Right now? I'd guess they were pretty damn low."

He laughed louder than he had all day, "True. I mean if you add up all the factors, bitten by snakes, attacked by careers constantly, bleeding brains, sliced open backs, trapped in a cave with no way out, it doesn't really instill much confidence hey."

I laughed despite all the protests in my brain. He was right though, after all the shitty things that had happened to us somehow we had kind of ended up as underdogs in this game. Well not Jett and Caden, they'd been frontrunners from the get go, but me, I would be quite proud to call myself an underdog. It takes the pressure off, no expectations to uphold, no one really has all that much faith in you, so you can only do better. I was about to make some kind of reply when my super sensitive sense of smell kicked in and detected a foreign scent that hadn't been there before.

"Do you smell that?" I asked softly giving him a second to think, "It smells...like smoke?"

I quickly inhaled through my nostrils again. Yep, there it was again, that thick, ashy, charcoaly smell that clogged my airways and tugged on my gag reflex. Definitely smoke.

"Yeah I do," he agreed, rising to his feet and pulling me up with him, "Where the hell is it coming from?"

I followed the scent for maybe five metres before I tripped a little over something at my feet and kicked something round and hard. I probably would have fallen flat on my face if Jett hadn't been holding me up and supporting me. I quickly crouched to the ground and brushed my fingers around the floor before I felt some heat radiating from maybe a foot to my left. I moved my hand over to where the heat was coming from and suddenly felt something finely grained and like a chalky powder beneath my fingers. I picked up a small lump and it delicately crumpled into more fine fragments under a little bit of pressure. The smoky smell was stronger from here and I could feel some residue of heat.

"Ash," I said, trying to think back to figure out how any ash would have ended up here.

"From a fire?" Jett asked and as soon as he said it the memory clicked in my brain. Caden had lit a fire before he had left, when I was stitching up Jett. It must have been quenched by all the dust and soot from the falling rocks during the earthquake. Why had he lit it again? Because we had thought we would need to warm up the pot from Aylin's pack. That's what I must have kicked, the pot with the stew inside. It must have fallen over during the quake but I had sealed the lid which had kept the contents inside whilst we were running. With any luck it was still full and we could eat the food now.

"Search the floor for an average sized pot," I ordered Jett whilst sweeping my arms around on the floor hoping to hit the pot, "It has some food we can eat in it."

Jett didn't need any further instructions. He quickly copied what I was doing and in a couple of seconds he had found the pot and unfastened the lid. The smell of the fragrant, delicious capitol food suddenly filled the entire cavern and was practically torturing my heightened sense of smell and empty stomach. We both quickly dug into the stew, taking turns at using the ladle to scoop a mouthful of stew before passing it on. It wasn't pretty, but considering we couldn't actually see what we were doing it wasn't all that bad. By the time we had both had our fill of the sweet tasting broth the stew had cooled considerably.

"You know," Jett murmured, "Our other packs are in here too right?"

"I think so," I nodded whilst using my wrist to wipe my mouth, "If we could ever find them."

"Well if we could find the matches we could light another fire," he suggested, his voice cautiously optimistic, "It might be nice to be able to see something for a change."

I shook my head, "I don't think that's such a good idea. As it is we could be stuck in here a while and we have no idea how much oxygen there is left in this cave. I doubt that combusting what little is left would be a smart move."

He sighed, his hopes probably dashed, "I didn't think of that," he admitted regretfully, "but now that you mention it, do you remember seeing a back wall to this cave?"

I tried to picture the cave as it had been when we first arrived and in my mental picture there was visible end to the cave, just darkness stretching on for god knows how long.

"No," I decided, "Why?"

"Well we have some time," he said light-heartedly, "I say we keep walking in that direction till we find the end of this cave."

I considered his proposal. Well he was right, it's not like we were in any rush to go anywhere or anything, maybe actually walking somewhere would get my mind off the fact that I was stuck inside a room of rock.

I shrugged, "Why not," I said as I got up onto my feet, "It can't hurt."

So we set off in the other direction, both of us clinging to the other's hand like a lifeline as we plunged further and further into the deeper unknown. We walked for what I would guess would have been maybe an hour, stopping every so often so that one of us could check that we were still in line with the side walls and that we hadn't gone off on a tangent. Jett kept me distracted by making pointless conversation, normally somehow regarding my family or district twelve. I tried to be sociable but the truth was I was becoming more and more nervous by the minute and learning what Jett's sister's favourite colour was wasn't really high on my list of priorities. A little after that hour I ran, pretty much face first, into another wall, but this one, again, wasn't like the side walls. It was equally as serrated and mismatched as the entrance had been. I reached out and started feeling around trying to get a picture of the obstacle in front of me. It seemed to be almost the exact height as the way into the cave and just as detached from the other walls.

"What do you think is going on here?" I asked, trying to figure out what the hell was happening.

"I think," he said after a second, "I think, and this is just a theory here, that we were wrong about this being a cave."

"What do you mean," I inquired, perplexed.

"I think this is actually a _tunnel,_" he theorised, "and that would make this the other entrance."

I considered his theory. It would make sense, physically as well as theoretically. I imagine that if I made a cross-section of the mountain from where we had been it would have taken just over an hour to get from one end to the other, and it would explain how the careers had managed to get from one place to another so fast, if they had a direct link to both sides of the mountain. It also would clarify why this wall of stone felt so much like the cave in area at the entrance.

I groaned, "And this exit is blocked off too," I added cynically, 'Brilliant."

"I doubt we'd have any luck with this one either," he said apologetically, "It feels airtight as well."

"Well now what?" I asked, turning around to head back the way we'd come.

"Do you mind if we sit just for a second," Jett asked politely, and for the first time I remembered that he wasn't actually up to full health and that I should have rested him ages ago, "I'm just a little tired. Can we rest for a sec?"

"Of course we can," I chided, pulling him down to the ground next to me but just as I was going to go on a rant about how he should have told me as soon as he was tired that he needed a break when I heard the faintest sound echoing down the tunnel. Just one word, one name, _Eora. _ It bounced off the walls so lightly that I almost thought I imagined it but within seconds there it was again, just the slightest sound. _Eora...Eora...Eora. _

"Did you hear that?" I asked Jett as he sat down next to me.

"What?" he questioned curiously.

"Nothing," I quickly urged it away. Chances were I was just imagining it anyway, probably going start raving mad down here. Maybe if I didn't get out of here soon there would be nothing worth freeing.

Jett didn't press the issue anymore, he just sat next to me, his body radiating a comforting warmth and as I closed my eyes and rested my head on his shoulder I listened to the reassuring sound of his steady breathing and his stable heartbeat. I knew that outside it wasn't anywhere near dark yet; I mean we had been fighting at barely dawn, which is weird because it felt like years ago now, and after that we only ran for a few hours and camped in the cave for maybe another hour before the tremors started. That would make it mid afternoon by my calculations. But because it was damn dark in here and because my nervous system had been working on total overdrive I felt absolutely exhausted. I was just about to fall asleep on Jett's shoulder when he quickly pulled away and spun me around so that I was directly opposite him.

"Look Eora," he said, with some kind of desperation in his voice, "I've tried to keep this to myself, I really have, but I just can't hide it away any longer. I just need to come out and say it."

I could feel my cheeks reddening and my breath caught in my throat. Uh oh. This was exactly that aforementioned path I didn't want to go down.

"Are you going to say it because you want to," I stalled, "Or because you're afraid we'll die in this tunnel and you'll never get the chance?"

"That doesn't matter-" he protested but I cut him off.

"Of course it matters."

"-What matters is that you need to hear it, you deserve to know and I _have_ to tell you. It might just make things worse-"

"Then don't say it," I yelled desperately, "Don't risk it."

"You should know. I need to tell you."

"No you don't," I realised I was probably a little too defensive for someone who was supposed to be clueless. I couldn't see his face but I could practically _feel _those big brown eyes gazing over me dubiously, trying to discover what I was thinking.

"You already know don't you," he whispered accusingly, drawing me in even closer to him, probably trying to get me close enough to see, despite the total lack of light.

"Know what?" I said innocently and even I winced at how fake that sounded.

"You _do_ know," he confirmed, his volume a little louder, "How? How could you-" he sounded confused and baffled before he jumped to a conclusion, "_Caden_. That little snitch. Of course he told you-"

"Caden didn't say anything about anything to me," I said defensively but Jett just kept going on his rant.

"How he managed to hide his feeling from you for so long I'll never know. All you have to do is bat your eyelids and he'll tell you whatever you want to know."

"Jett!" I said trying to get his attention and failing.

"I tell you the next time I see him I'm going to knock his good for nothing head right off his neck-"

"Jett!" I yelled louder, finally snapping him out of his rampage, "Caden didn't tell me. You're not the only one who can close their eyes and pretend to be asleep you know."

That silenced him for a few moments, "You heard me talking to him."

"Yep."

He groaned, "Everything."

"Pretty much yeah," I said with a small shrug.

"But you didn't tell me," he asked, a hidden interest in his voice, "Why not?"

"Then I'd be breaking the cardinal rule of eavesdropping," I said with a fake laugh, "Admitting that you were eavesdropping."

For a few agonising moments he was completely soundless, to the point where I couldn't even hear him breathing anymore and before long I simply couldn't take the awkwardness anymore and I just started gushing.

"Look Jett it's not that I don't understand anything," I started, taking a deep breath, "Actually that's not true, I don't understand why you would have any feelings for me at all, but no matter what either one of us feels we have to be realistic. This is the Hunger Games and by doing anything we'll just be complicating things and as much as I care about you I just don't think what you're feeling is smart. And not to mention-" I never got to finish my rant because in the fraction of a second that I had stopped to breath Jett had moved his hand to my hair pulled me in, and kissed me.

The immediate thought was, how the hell did he manage to find my lips in the darkness? But I knew that answer as soon as the question popped up into my brain, Jett could feel me, just like I could feel him. His presence, his gaze running over me, I didn't have to be able to see him to know what moves he was going to make or how far away from me he was. Something about losing our sight in the tunnel had created this intuitive link between the two of us that had become almost instinctive.

His lips were feather-light on mine, just softly brushing against mine, like rather than just kissing me and waiting to see how I would react he was inviting me to take some kind of action. Amidst my shock I felt surprisingly conflicted within myself. I knew what I should have been doing, which was pulling away, slapping Jett and telling him that this was completely inappropriate. But then at the same time as his fingers gently became entwined in my ridiculously messy hair I could feel something warm and fiery deep within my core, at the bottom of my stomach, just the tiniest flicker, the smallest spark and yet somehow it was all I could do not to listen to that tiny little feeling and completely throw myself at Jett. In my indecision Jett slowly pulled me closer, as if just to show me that despite what he may be feeling he wasn't going to make me do anything I didn't want to do. Without meaning to I kissed him back for the most fleeting of moments before I slowly pulled away and opened my eyes.

"I can't-" I stammered, "Jett I just can't. This...us...it'll just complicate everything. It'll just make it hurt so much more when..." I didn't need to finish the sentence; he already knew where I was going with it.

He gently released his hand from my hair and brought his fingertips across my cheek in a soft caress, "I know," and then he quickly pressed his lips against the top of my head before getting up and using our still joined hands to hoist me up as well and pull me into a tight hug. It felt so damn natural to just wrap my arms around his perfectly sized torso and lean into his strong arms, into which I fit so well. Once again I was momentarily glad that I couldn't see him because I think that not being able to see how heart-wrenchingly good looking he was was making it considerably easier for my will to hold.

"Just so you know," he whispered lightly into my ear, making my heart doing a couple of somersaults inside my ribcage. Damn heart, "As long as you're here, I'll be here. Waiting." I could almost see the playful smile on his face, "If you change your mind."

Hmm how does that little respiratory action that a few people like to use now and then go again? I seem to have forgotten how it works. What was it called? Something with a B? Meh, how important can oxygen be right?

Jett held onto me for a few more never-ending seconds before we started back the way we came and I was so terribly worried that after this everything would just be horribly awkward. Luckily for me, Jett is not the awkward kind, and before long he was back to mindless socialising and cracking jokes again. After the hour or so journey to get back to where we came from I started to see some kind of soft light coming from of in the distance. I turned to Jett, the light still not bright enough for me to see him.

"I'm not imagining that am I?" I asked, my heart in my throat, "You can see that too right?"

"No I can see it," he said, unable to hide the excitement in his voice and he quickly took off at a sprint, pulling me along behind him. The closer we came to this strange half-light the brighter it became and the more and more my anticipation built. Within maybe five minutes we had reached the entrance and from there I had to shield my sensitive eyes from the genuine light coming out from a maybe two square foot hole in the top left hand corner of the caved in wall. The light didn't illuminate much of the cave, only the section that was directly under it, however I could suddenly see outlines and shapes, which after hours of absolutely nothing was amazing. I turned to Jett and even though it wasn't very well lit I could see him! His gorgeous face, those dazzling big brown eyes, his sandy blonde hair, and even though he was covered practically head to toe in dirt and dust, I probably was as well, he looked absolutely perfect. My memory of him had definitely not done him justice and I almost wished that it was dark again so I couldn't see him anymore.

He beamed at me and quickly picked me up by the waist and swung me around, "I can see you! God I was almost scared that I was really going blind."

I was just about to answer back as he put me down when I heard a scurrying sound from outside the entrance to the cave before the tiny source of light was blocked by the outline of someone's upper body.

"Jett?" I heard a voice that I recognised ask, "Jett is that you?" Even though I couldn't see his features at all I knew immediately whose voice that was and just the sound of it sent a wave of relief through my body and made my stomach twist in that surprisingly familiar way.

"Caden?" Jett called back at the figure blocking the light.

I heard Caden let out a relieved, hearty laugh, "I never thought I'd say it Jett but I am so damn happy to hear your voice."

Jett, as much as he was trying to conceal it, smiled a coy half smile back at Caden, "Right back at ya."

Caden laughed again before quickly cutting off, "Wait. Where's-"

"I'm here," I called out, unable to hide just how happy I was to see him, and I ran towards the pocket of light. The hole in the caved in entrance wasn't big enough for anyone to fit through yet and because it was in the top left hand corner I couldn't get up to see him so I just extended my hand to meet his and he quickly grabbed onto it like his life depended on it, "I'm here Caden. And you're alive."

Caden couldn't stop beaming at me, "_I'm_ alive? You've been stuck in here for a quarter of a day and you're worried that _I_ might be dead. I've spent the last six hours just trying to break through far enough to make sure you weren't crushed by a thousand pounds of rock and when I finally managed to get through I called out to you and I didn't get any kind of response. I thought..." I saw the pain streak across his face and I imagined what he must have felt when all he was met with was dead silence. I then joined the dots, the voice I had heard calling my name, it was just Caden's voice echoing off the walls. Ha, I wasn't crazy!

"Right," Jett butted in, 'Now that we've all realised that we're all alive, maybe we should work on getting us out of here hey?"

I quickly retreated back a few paces and thanked my lucky stars that it was still too dark for either of them to see me blush. Jett and I, now that we could see, quickly gathered up all the equipment that was inside the cave and passed it through to Caden outside. The plan was simple, the three of us would all try and work to make the hole big enough for Jett to give me a boost and squeeze out and then from there I would be able to help Caden make the hole big enough for Jett to fit through. It took maybe twenty minutes till we had the gap large enough that I thought I might fit and whilst getting stuck didn't exactly sound pleasant I was not going to stay down in this hell any longer than absolutely necessary. Jett positioned himself in front of the opening and softly lifted me up by the waist so that I could scurry in through the gap whilst Caden pulled me from the other side. Luckily the hole was actually much bigger than it needed to be and within a couple of seconds I was out and lying in a heap in the painfully bright sunlight on soft, damp, luscious green grass.

I spent the few precious moments I had to let the relief flow over me and wash away all the anxiety and the fear that had been firmly implanted in my heart that afternoon. It was over. I was out. I was free.

**Well guys sorry for the delay, this just was not an easy chapter to write and I was crazy busy these last couple of weeks. Hopefully the wait wasn't all that long for you, I don't think I left it on all that bad of a cliff hanger did I?...Meh can't remember. Oh well, hopefully you all enjoy the chapter, not quite so much action this time but hey, we all need a break at some point. **

**xxC**

**(ps has any seen the new trailer for the Hunger Games movie? God I'm so pumped you have no idea. March 23****rd**** cannot come around fast enough)**


	33. Freedom?

_**Freedom?**_

Those few precious moments that I lay on the ground were possibly the best I had ever had in my entire life. With my eyes closed I could feel the soft, spring green grass brushing against my skin, leaving a faint aroma of freshly mown grass hanging in the air. I could practically feel the vitamin D being absorbed into my pores as the warm spring sunlights radiated down on to my face and the gentle spring breeze caressed my cheeks with a feather-light delicacy. As my heartbeat soothed to a normal level, for the first time all day, I could feel all my stresses slowly ebb away from me and felt my breathing become long and exaggerated. Lying in that grass, in the sunlight, with my eyes closed, I felt almost completely content. There were no worries, nothing that could ruin anything. Life was simple, life was pleasant, it was like no one had died, no one had been hurt, no one had been trapped in a cave, yep, life was pretty much perfect. However those perfect moments were far too fleeting and as soon as those perfect seconds had come they were quickly erased.

Caden scooped me up off the ground and into his arms, wrapping one arm around my waist and the other around the back of my neck, and pulled me into a warm hug so tight that I could barely breathe. I quickly flung my arms around him in return and let myself sink into his embrace, realising just how much I had yearned for him when I was stuck down there. I pressed the side of my face into his shoulder as he picked me up and twirled me around in the air.

"You're okay," he kept muttering into my ear, whether he was reassuring me or confirming the fact to himself I wasn't sure, "you're okay, you're okay, you're okay."

I was just about to say that 'okay' wasn't exactly the word I'd use, a total and utter mess would probably come closer, but the last thing I wanted to do was freak him out and send him into crazy protective mode. He pulled back so that he could look at my face and I couldn't help but smile looking at the absolute joy in his face and the mixture of relief and glee in his eyes as he looked at me. Before I could even react he took my face in both his hands and leaned down and kissed me. I barely had time to register what he was doing, let alone act, before he pulled away again, a sheepish grin on his face.

"Sorry," he whispered, but he was still beaming at me, "Actually, that's a lie. I'm not sorry at all. I'm just so damn happy that you're alive." He looked tenderly into my eyes and softly stroked my cheek with the back of his hand, sending little shivers down my spine and making my heart flutter.

I probably could have scolded him for that but in that moment I was perfectly euphoric: Caden was alive, I was out of that horrid cave, I had no current complaints. I was about to tell him how glad I was that he was okay as well before I heard a noise from behind me.

"Hey you two," I heard Jett's voice Echo from below us, " Caden, I get that you just got the love of your life back, or whatever, but in case you hadn't noticed, I'm still stuck in a cave," I tried my hardest not to laugh at his both casual and mocking tone, "And I kinda want to get out."

I (reluctantly? Is it reluctance if it goes against every natural impulse you have?) pulled myself out of Caden's grasp but before I could go over to help Jett Caden bent down, his lips so close to my neck I could feel his soft, warm breath against my skin.

"I guess you wouldn't be too happy if I asked you to just run away with me and leave him here," Caden asked playfully, but there was a tone of something almost...seductive in his voice, a characteristic I never would have defined Caden with. My eyes widened as I was stunned silent, did Caden just ask me to run away with him? I assume that meant literally run away not...you know...any of the metaphorical connotations associated with that phrase. _Ok Eora calm down, stop acting like a crazy, hormonal...teenage girl. And for god's sake BREATHE. _My heart had practically sky-rocketed and somewhere along the line I had forgotten how the whole respiration process works. I looked at him with my mouth hanging open, my eyes wide with shock while I searched for something, anything, to say. Luckily he just laughed at me before whispering, "Just kidding," he paused for a second, before that devilish grin came back on his face "Kind of." I went to lightly hit him on the arm but he caught my hand before quickly raising it to his lips, making me blush like crazy.

"By all means," Jett added sarcastically from down below, "Take your time. I'm having a _great_ time down here by myself."

I'll admit, as horrible as it sounds, I was kind of glad that Jett was stuck down there for this moment and couldn't see Caden and I. I don't think this whole thing would go down very well with him, and the last thing I wanted was to hurt him, or worse piss him off to the point where he just got really grouchy at me. But at the same time, I had no intention of letting Caden find out about anything that had happened down in that cave, I don't think he'd get pissed off so much as he would just become brooding and cold, or he'd just chop Jett's head off, which was also not a good outcome. But more than anything it would hurt him, more than it would hurt Jett, just because Jett already knew about Caden's feelings for me, whereas Caden only found out about Jett a few days ago. As it was Jett knew I knew he liked me, and Caden knew as well, but for the moment Caden didn't know that I knew, and hopefully that was the way it would stay. Whoa...if you got any of that I'd be incredibly impressed. When did my life become this damn complicated?

Putting my own inner melodramas aside I tried to act like Caden's proposal hadn't fazed me at all and I nonchalantly rolled my eyes at him and walked over to the cave entrance to start clearing some more of the rock. I heard what I could have guessed was an amused chuckle behind me before Caden came and started helping me. I was kind of amazed that Caden had even managed to break through; the amount of rock covering this entrance was remarkable. He would have had to have worked tirelessly for that whole period of time we were stuck down there just to break through. I quickly glanced over at him and saw that his hands and wrists were covered in cuts and gashes that were layered with dirt and grime. He didn't look like he was in any kind of pain; in fact, he looked almost too content, _too _composed, almost like someone who was trying his absolute hardest not to show just how much agony he was truly in. He was still putting himself second, still trying to help me despite the obvious injuries he had sustained while trying to get Jett and me out.

_He didn't go through all of that for _Jett_ and you know it, _a little voice in the back of my mind whispered, _he did this for you and you alone. Because he'd die for you, because no amount of pain is worth losing you, because he loves you. Wouldn't you be doing the same if your positions had been switched?_

Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's not take ourselves down this path Eora. Not now, not ever.

I focused my mind solely on trying to clear some more rock so that we could get Jett out, making sure not to let my mind wonder to any...irrelevant/dangerous topics. From this side it was easier to see just how you would clear the rock. All the fallen stones had piled on top of each other to form a kind of mound out the front of the cave entrance and Caden had managed to shuffle enough of the rock at the top down to the bottom so that there was a small patch of the opening visible. I was quite lucky actually that I hadn't hurt myself while getting out of the cave because all the piled up debris was quite sharp and jagged and I quite easily could have done some serious damage. It wasn't hard to see how Caden had got so hurt trying to get us out, I mean he had done most of the heavy lifting before I had been freed and even just clearing the looser and more scattered debris I was feeling my hands start to hurt.

Once we made the gap big enough Jett would pass us through any remaining equipment that had been trapped down there with us, which in turn we could use to help clear some more space. With the two of us working on it Caden and I had made the hole big enough for Jett to fit through in about fifteen minutes. Using both Caden and my hands' as anchors Jett managed to haul himself up out of the opening and into the daylight. He looked almost as relieved as I did at being free and after taking a few moments to just absorb the magnificence of the open landscape, as I had, he grabbed my hand and entwined my fingers in his.

"I promised didn't I?" His bright smile absorbing the sight of me, "I promised we'd get out of that nightmare and we did."

"You're welcome," came Caden's sarcastic response from behind us and Jett couldn't quite hide his smile as he rolled his eyes.

"Oh what you're not so relieved that I'm alive that you have to say it over and over again like you did for Eora? I'm hurt Caden."

"Look I just saved you from spending your final days rotting down there in that cave, the least you could do is say 'Thank You.'"

I decided it was probably smart to interrupt before the two of them could launch into round two of their showdown.

"Jett," I warned, taking subtle notice of the fact he still hadn't let go of my hand.

He looked down at me before groaning and turning back to Caden.

"...Thank you..." I almost laughed at how childish he sounded, "But seriously it took you long enough don't you think?"

Caden let that one go, probably knowing that was the only thanks he was going to receive from Jett.

I looked around casually, "Well...what now?" After everything the three of us had been through in the last six and a half hours it could have been like it never happened. Even though we had been through hell and back in that short period of time, nothing outside of us had changed at all, which seemed almost ridiculous because for me _everything _seemed to have changed. We were still on the mountain, it was still day 9, the trees around us were still a rich green colour and were still being lightly gusted by a warm spring breeze.

"I don't know," Caden said as he looked around as well, "but I think we're going to have to find another place to rest."

He was right of course. After all we had stopped in that cave because we were all so damn exhausted but now after spending all that time in it I felt like I might collapse right here and now. Not to mention that both Caden and Jett were hurt, even if they were both putting on brave faces so that I didn't make them slow down. We needed to find somewhere isolated and secure, but definitely _not_ a cave. Never again would I take one step inside a room of rock even if my life depended on it.

"Agreed," Jett quickly bent down to pick up his pack and sling it around onto his shoulders, "But do we want to go up the mountain to find one, or down?"

I looked at Caden and he looked back at we and almost simultaneously we said, "Down." The last thing we needed right now was to bump into a career or two and it had become common knowledge that they liked to camp up on the summit. For that reason going down the mountain seemed perfect.

"Alright then, let's get going. I don't know about you two but I'd like to be settled down by the time it gets dark."

Which it appeared, wasn't all that far away. Since we were on the east side of the mountain the sun was already beginning to cast a shadow over us, even though it must have only been about three in the afternoon. So as quickly as we could we started off, all three of us so eager to find somewhere to stop that we probably pushed ourselves much harder than we should have. I did notice however that I had somehow ended up in the middle of Caden and Jett, both of them sticking much closer to me than they had before. I tried to just ignore that and focus on finding a good enough spot to camp for the night but it was much harder than you might have thought. So instead I decided some conversation might be a good distraction.

"So Caden, did anything happen while we were...preoccupied?"

Caden shook his head lightly, "Nothing that I noticed. No more tremors, no cannons firing. It would appear that the two of you being stuck in that cave was enough entertainment for all our lovely capitol viewers because nothing terrible has happened out here."

Crap, not him too. I'll be the first to admit I'm not a capitol fan, especially not after all that they've made me go through in here, but I am smart enough to keep all my stupid thoughts in my head. The two of them needed to learn to keep their mouths shut or things would just get worse. I was about to start scolding him for talking like that when Jett butted in.

"So everybody else is still alive?"

"Unless a cannon went off too far away for me to hear, then yes," Caden paused for a second, "Just _who_ is left?"

I looked at Jett as I tried to think back to the conversation we'd been having before, "Well the three careers obviously."

Jett nodded, "Angora, Velvet and Tripp. Then the three of us makes six."

"And then the only other two are Serenity and Davion."

Caden frowned, "Davion...what's his deal? He seems to be the only person I can't figure out."

I shrugged, "I don't know. I mean he's had so many chances to kill all three of us and yet he hasn't. Why not?"

"Who knows?" Jett responded, "But you were right when you said he was a dark horse Eora. I never even thought about him before now but now I wonder if perhaps he's the real threat."

I had no real response, with all the things going on I hadn't really given myself time to think about what Davion was doing. But I didn't want him to be a threat, because if he was then we'd have to take him out and I didn't want to. I didn't want to kill Serenity either and I knew I'd never be able to kill either Jett or Caden. This was killing me, slowly, and from the inside out all of this was killing me. I didn't want anyone else to have to die... well that's not entirely true. If Velvet came within five metres of me again I would make sure that I personally drove a knife through her heart, not only for what she did to me but for what she did to Porter. Hurting me, that could have been forgivable, but killing that amazing little kid in cold blood like she did, that wasn't. And I wasn't going to let anybody else take that from me, I needed to do this myself. Hmm...maybe while I'm on my bloodthirsty rampage I'll take out Tripp for killing Kaia, but that one I'm not quite so personally devoted to. I'd be happy to let someone else do that for me. It wasn't that I cared about Porter more than Kaia, definitely not, it was just that I despised Velvet considerably more than I hated Tripp. Simple, don't you think?

It took us maybe another hour before we finally settled on a clearing near the base of the mountain. It wasn't exactly a great spot but it was the best we could do on short notice and in truth I was damn tired that I would have gladly slept anywhere. Caden and Jett set up the tent as quickly as they could and I went to get some water. They had the tent erected by the time I came back with the flasks and even though we were all about to give way we knew we had to eat something.

"What do we have left in terms of food?" I asked as we all looked through our packs.

"I've got a few bits of raw meat and a couple of left over bread rolls," Jett said.

"There's nothing but greens in here," He quickly turned and smiled at me, "And most of it is kale..."

"There's a little bit of Aylin's stew left as well but I don't think it would go very far," I added, the regret in my voice plain for all to hear. I did not want to have to go out and find some food now, I mean this was enough for today but we'd need more food for tomorrow morning unless we wanted to have to hunt at dawn. But looking at the left over bread rolls that Jett had pulled out I remembered our other source of food. How long had it been since Haymitch had sent us anything? At least three days...in fact I think it was even longer than that. The last time we got any sponsor food was the night before Kaia died. Seriously? Between the three of us we made up almost half of all the tributes left, we had to have had some sponsor money.

I turned my head up to the sky and just let loose, "Hey _Haymitch_! If you would take the time to drag yourself away from whichever bottle of alcohol you currently have in your hand, we are kind of hungry down here." I guess that screaming at the sky probably wasn't the most mature move on my part but hey, I was tired, stressed and traumatised, I think I had a right to be cranky.

I stood, waiting, looking at the sky...and nothing. I was about to lash into another round of insults but Jett started talking next to me.

"Sterling," he yelled, but with much more composure than I had used, "If you're waiting for the right time, this is it. Please."

Sterling? I think that was the name of his mentor...maybe. Either way this Sterling must have liked Jett much more than Haymitch likes me because as soon as Jett had finished talking a silver parachute came hovering down, carrying with it a large, covered tray of food. Jett looked over at me and gave an impish grin.

I scowled up at the sky, "What? Just because he sucked up to you. At least I was honest."

Jett laughed, "It pays to be nice Eora."

"He was never nice to me. He and Rubin always liked Caden much more than me."

Caden snorted, "Yeah right. What on earth made you think that?"

"Well Rubin always let you sleep in longer. And Haymitch was always talking to you and giving you advice."

"He talked to you just as much as he talked to me and you know it."

I ignored him, "Plus they were both so proud when you did so well in training."

"They were happy with your result as well. They were just surprised with mine-"

"Now now children no need to fight," Jett butted in, his tone incredibly condescending, "They love you both equally. Now shut up and come eat so I can get to sleep."

I glowered at him but he just laughed at me and before I had any time to protest my growling stomach demanded that I come join him and eat. After all the stresses of today it was amazing to just sit down and eat the amazing capitol food. We all stuffed ourselves until we could literally not eat anymore and even after that we had leftovers for tomorrow morning, thank goodness for that.

Once we had all finished eating the only thing left to decide was who would take first watch. I happily would have done it if I wasn't afraid that I would fall asleep on my watch again. But then again, both the boys were just as tired as me and they were hurt.

"I'll do it," I said, hoping that they couldn't hear how unwilling I truly was, "The two of you can rest now and I'll take first watch."

The two of them quickly glanced at each other and as they looked at each other I could see some kind of communication going on between them, and I knew exactly what it was they were both thinking.

"Come on," I groaned, "I promise I'm not going to try and run away again." They still looked dubiously at each other, "Please, just trust me."

Jett sighed and gave a small apologetic smile, "Okay, you can have first watch. But it should probably be shorter, only an hour or two, then wake one of us."

"I'll take second watch," Caden quickly added to which Jett promptly agreed.

Perhaps if I hadn't been so tired I would have argued but as it was, an hour would probably be a stretch anyway, "Ok fine. Now go to sleep."

My watch hour was, for lack of a better word, hell. Every three or four minutes I would feel myself starting to drift off and sometimes I swear I actually did fall asleep for a few moments before waking up with a start. If anyone had decided to attack us then and there, there really wouldn't have been much I would have been able to do to stop them. Luckily for me though, nothing did. Well...that's not exactly true. About half way in I could have sworn that I saw something small dart through the underbrush around us but before I even had time to register what it was it was gone. While that did make me slightly more alert for the remainder of my watch I didn't see anything like it again so I passed it off as a trick of my half asleep brain. I wasn't sure how long I had been on guard for but I figured it was close enough to an hour to go wake Caden.

As I slowly and quietly unzipped the tent door and walked across to Caden's sleeping form I tried my absolute hardest not to wake up the snoring Jett who was sleeping on the other side of the tent. Looking down at Caden sleeping I almost didn't want to wake him up. He looked so peaceful, more so than I'd ever seen him while he was awake and I genuinely considered just leaving him and going to sleep next to him. I personally would have been completely content with that, I knew that my two paranoid allies would have been extremely opposed to it of course. So I knelt down next to him and lightly shook him on the shoulder to wake him up. He must have been a scarily light sleeper because almost the minute I touched him his eyes opened with a start and he quickly looked around. When his eyes set on me they calmed and he smiled a warm, tender smile before slowly sitting up.

"Anything happen?" he asked with a yawn.

"Yeah but it was nothing major. Just the three careers came and attacked and I took them all out single-handedly," I smiled at him, "Of course nothing happened."

He chuckled quietly, "Better to be safe than sorry Eora."

"I know, somewhere deep, deep down I know that. But in reality all I want is to sleep, which jumbles my priorities a little."

"Then go to sleep," he said as he got up, leaving the sleeping bag waiting for me.

I didn't need any more of an invitation. I lay/fell down onto the sleeping bag and felt myself slowly drifting off to sleep. Except just before I could actually get to sleep I heard movement around me. I snapped my eyes open, sat up with a start, and looked around. Thankfully, it was only Caden, but he was searching around in the packs for something.

"What are looking for?" I whispered, which caused him to jump a little.

"You're supposed to be sleeping," he chided, to which I snorted.

"Like I could sleep with all that stomping around you're doing."

He grinned again, "Sorry. I'm just looking for some bandage."

I frowned as I tried to remember where the bandage was, "I think it was in Jett's pack."

He silently moved across over to where Jett had left his pack and sorted through it, "Found it. Thanks. Now go back to sleep," and with that he walked back outside.

I was almost about to obey and finally let myself fall asleep when I remembered I forgot to ask the most important question, why did he need the bandage? _For his hands you idiot. He never stopped to fix them because you all needed to find somewhere to rest. Once again he put his own need second to yours. _

I was waging a little war within myself at that moment. On the one hand, all I wanted was to go to sleep, more than anything else in the whole damn world. On the other hand, Caden had hurt himself saving my life, the least I could do was go help bandage his wounds. Despite the protest my body was giving I forced myself out of the sleeping bag and back out of the tent. Caden looked over with a puzzled expression when he saw me walking towards him.

"What are you doing?" he asked, putting down the bandage in his hands, "I thought all you wanted was to go to sleep."

I glared at him playfully, "Shut up and give me the bandage."

He beamed at me, his gorgeous face alight as I sat down in front of him and took the bandage from his hands. When he wouldn't stop looking at me I looked down at the bandage in my hands before speaking.

"Hold out your hands."

He obeyed silently, his huge, dark blue eyes never leaving mine. Now that I was up closer I could see just how beat up his hands were. There were cuts and gashes all over them, all different sizes and depths, some of which still looked like they were bleeding a little. Not that fazed me at all, you can't go this long in the hunger games not being able to put up with a little blood here and there.

"You know you don't have to do this," he whispered as I gently wrapped the first layer of bandage around his right wrist.

I laughed lightly to myself, "Please, like you would have been able to bandage these yourself with both hands out of action."

"I could have done it," he sounded remarkably calm for someone still in pain, "You could have just gone back to sleep."

I refused to look up into his eyes, which were scrutinizing my every move, "Yeah well...you got hurt because of me. It's the least I can do."

It became so awkwardly silent after that that it was getting to be unbearable. Except every time I gained enough courage to quickly glance up at Caden he looked perfectly placid and content, in fact he was smiling a little as he watched me slowly wrap the bandage around his hand. It didn't look like he thought this was awkward at all. How was that _possible_? I felt so damn nervous that I could feel my cheeks reddening and I felt all flushed and despite being out in the open in the middle of the night, the air between us felt incredibly warm.

"You're cute when you're nervous," he whispered tenderly into my ear. Crap, when did he get that close? And how did he know I was so nervous? And why was I nervous? I slowly batted my eyelashes before looking back up into his eyes, feeling the butterflies in my stomach go absolutely crazy thanks to the way he was looking at me. I was planning on some kind of witty response, probably telling him off for saying something like that but with him looking at me like that I was at a loss for words. So instead I chickened out and looked back down and focused on bandaging his other hand, before realising just how little bandage we had left.

"We are-um- running out of bandage..." I stalled hoping he didn't see through my pathetic attempt to change the topic of conversation.

Caden didn't even look like he heard me, he just inched in closer to me, lightly lifting his hand to my chin and raising it so that he had me completely ensnared in his gaze. I felt my breath shortening and a light giddiness enveloping me, and don't even get me started on the heartbeat that was so strong I could hear it thudding in my ears. He was slowly leaning down towards me and my pulse started racing to what was probably an unhealthy rate when out of the corner of my eye I saw a small silver parachute gliding down beside us. Caden let out a small sigh and gradually pulled back away from me. I took a few stunned seconds to get a grip on reality again before leaning over to grab the parachute. It held a medium sized box that was filled to the brim with bandage. I almost laughed. I had yelled at him desperately begging him to send us some food and he refused but all I have to do is stammer a little about some bandage and it comes. Perhaps...interrupting...was just Haymitch's way of telling me to snap out of it and focus. To stop...whatever I had been doing...and get back to what was important. Anyway whatever it was that had come over the two of us, it was over now. I _knew_ my cheeks were beetroot red now and I made sure not to make eye contact with Caden after that, focusing completely on bandaging up his other hand as quickly as possible so I could go to sleep and forget everything that had happened today.

Once I was done I looked back up at him and awkwardly stalled for a few moments, feeling like I should say something. But Caden just smiled at me, almost like none of that had ever happened. Great, we were back to pretending things never happened. One step forward, ten steps back. As I went to let go of his hand he quickly squeezed it before saying a quick, "Thank you."

Without even thinking I leaned in and quickly kissed him on the cheek before saying in a voice as heartfelt as I could manage, "Thank _you. _For saving my life...Again." As I pulled back I almost could have slapped myself for being so damn stupid but there was nothing I could do about it now.

He beamed at me again before shrugging a little, "Anytime."

I backed away as quickly as I could and as I hurried back towards the tent I frowned in confusion. What the hell was happening to me? Why did I feel so...so...infuriatingly confounded and perplexed? I didn't want to think about in anymore so despite how damn exasperated I felt I lay down on the sleeping bag and forced myself to count sheep so I could just fall asleep.

Jett woke me up early the next morning and despite the fact that I'd been asleep for a good eight hours I still felt physically exhausted. All morning I was trudging around trying to wake myself up even after we had eaten, packed up and started moving further down the mountain. Once again, I was afraid that things were going to be awkward with Caden after, whatever the hell it had been last night, but once again I was wrong. He didn't treat me any differently to how he had before, which I guess I should be thankful for because Jett didn't notice anything.

"So what's the plan for today?" I asked Jett because he appeared to be leading the charge.

Jett shrugged, "I guess we're back to just waiting for trouble to hit us again."

I groaned, "Great."

It was day ten, the third summer day and man the gamemakers were really taking it to the next level. If I thought that last time it had been hot, I had been absolutely dreaming. Today had got to the point where I felt physically sick it was so hot. My clothes were sticking to my skin and with every step I could feel the pack on my back causing my skin to become irritated. The water flasks were being drained at a ridiculous rate and all three of us were making an extra effort to make sure we stayed in the shade at all times. It was unbearable, there is no better word to describe it, the heat was simply unbearable.

We had only been walking for a couple of hours when we all decided we needed to sit down and rest, lest we risk all passing out from the heat.

"Was the heat really necessary?" Jett asked, not really directing the question at anyone in particular, "I mean three people died yesterday. Shouldn't that entitle us to a little relief for a while?"

"Not when you look at it from a different perspective," Caden disputed, "That this is day ten and we still have eight people left. There have been Games that have been finished in half this time."

"Yeah but the capitol love the games that go on for longer, it's just more entertaining..." I stopped listening, knowing that the two of them could debate this issue for hours if they needed to. I smiled a little to myself as I looked away from the two of them but instantly my face fell as I looked out towards the forest. Coming towards us was a huge black...thing. It looked like a giant, dark, cloud that was getting closer and closer towards us at increasing speeds.

"Guys," I yelled, cutting the debate short as I stood up, "What the hell is that?"

They both followed my gaze before turning back around to look at me, both of their faces mirroring the horror on mine.

"I don't know," Jett boomed as he picked up his back and braced to leave, "But I don't think it's good. _Run!_"

He didn't need to ask twice. The three of us all ran off at full speed in the opposite direction to the thing that was getting closer and closer to us, desperately hitting the thick foliage out of our way and trying really hard not to trip over the underbrush and the roots around our ankles.

"One Day!" Jett roared as we ran, "You couldn't have given us _one day _of peace?"

"You had to say it!" Caden growled back, "You had to say we'd wait for trouble to hit us?"

"Shut up, both of you," I screamed, "Shut up and run."

Once the huge dark mass reached us it wasn't hard to figure out what it was: a huge, thick, swarm of locusts. There had to be hundreds of thousands of them and before long I could feel small bites across my skin, short and sharp and all over my body. Luckily the fear of being overcome by six inch insects was enough to drive me to run faster than I'd ever thought I could. I could see Jett and Caden running on either side of me, both of them batting away at the locusts as desperately as I was. We had to run with them on our heels for maybe ten minutes before suddenly, they just stopped chasing us. They were still there but the stopped advancing on us, just hovering in a huge swarm behind us. I looked around to try and see if there was anything near us that would have caused them to stop but nothing around us seemed in any way different to the rest of the mountain.

"What...the hell...was that?" I asked, keeling over as I gasped for breath. Neither one of them could say anything in response, both of them just as breathless as I was. They were both covered in small bites, just as I was, and I noticed that they were both bleeding in a few places. Those couldn't have been normal locusts: I mean yes, locusts have been known to move in swarms like that but not to actually attack people. What's more was, they never really looked like they were trying to kill us, I'm sure if they were they would have done so. However, I did get an answer to my question, but not from wither of my allies.

There was another sound off to my right and I quickly turned in a complete circle to see what had made it. Davion crashed through the flora and upon seeing us stopped so suddenly that he skidded and landed in a heap on the floor in front of me. He got up as quickly as he could and rested a hand defensively on his pickaxe as he gazed at the three of us.

"What...are you three...doing here?" he asked cautiously, but once he saw that none of us were going to attack his defensive posture lightened a little.

"We could ask you the same question?"

He took another deep breath, "Locusts."

"Same here," then suddenly it struck me. It could be no coincidence that the four of us were driven to the same spot by the same kind of mutt. They wanted to herd us into one spot again; I guess three deaths yesterday just hadn't been enough for them. Which meant...

I heard the sounds of more feet crashing through the forest near us, and more than one pair of feet. That only meant one thing. I had my hands on my knives in an instant and I instinctively balanced my weight in preparation to launch my knives at whichever career was in my line of sight first. Jett stood on my left, shoge in hand and Caden on my left, brandishing his broadsword out in front of him. Davion came and stood next to Caden with his pickaxe at the ready and as soon as I saw a figure break out of the trees in front of me I used all the strength I had and sent my first knife flying, only one thought in mind.

_Here we go again._

**A/N: I know, I know, I took forever once again but in all honesty now that we're getting closer finishing it's getting harder and harder to write knowing what needs to happen soon. Anyway another fairly fluffy, lightweight chapter for you all before things start to really heat up. But hopefully I'll be updating more quickly now that I'm on holidays so if not you are entitled to yell at me till I do.**

**On a completely different note I just wanted to tell you guys about this amazing story I'm involved in that's just got off the ground. It's a completely original idea in which 24 authors are all working together to create a huge Hunger Games fanfic. Each author gets a tribute so you guys, the readers, get the POVs of every single character. I would really recommend you go check it out because honestly there are some really incredible authors writing on it (most of whom are much better than me but don't tell them I told you that ;) ) my tribute is the girl from district 10, Aleah Armani, and I warn you now, Aleah and Eora are **_**very**_** different. Admittedly Eora does have her faults but Aleah is...well...a bitch. There's no nicer way of saying it. **

**So if any of you are interested it's called 'Tears of Blood.' It only really got off the ground a few days ago so I think there are three chapters posted so far but they've all been amazing so if you have any spare time and want something to read seriously, go check it out. **

**Once again please R&R and once again I promise to try and not take so long again. Thanks for sticking with me for so long.**

**xxC**


	34. Insanity

_**Insanity**_

Needless to say, my knife missed. When you're not really aiming at anything it should come as no surprise that you don't actually hit anything. Just as Angora led the charge into our little locust-surrounded circle she quickly jeered to the right and the knife sailed straight past her and into one of the trees behind her. Also needless to say, that _really_ pissed her off. And she knew exactly who had thrown it at her, the sheath of knives at my waist was probably a little bit of a giveaway.

She lunged at me, mace above her head and it came crashing down towards me. I barely had time to jump backwards and out of her reach before she had it back up and coming at me from the side, causing me to need to dodge even further away. And that is kind of how we continued for the next few frantic seconds, she swung at me, I dodged/ jumped/ducked/rolled/dove out of the way of that huge, eighty pound flanged metal death-trap and somehow managed to not die. I had to admit, I was quite damn proud of myself, however after doing that for about three minutes I was just about ready to trade with someone else. Can you blame me? Knives verses mace, who do you think will win?

I only took the briefest second to glance over at the three guys fighting alongside me. The four of us were in almost a dead straight line, which was probably a good thing, it meant we didn't have to watch our backs and could stay focused on the task in front of us. I was the furthest to the right in our little line, which gave me a bit of space to move on my right before running into the wall of locusts. Closest to me was Jett, who was facing off against Tripp, and appeared to be winning. Well I say that because Tripp was fighting with what I'm assuming was Dahlia's former spear but it looked like it had seen better days, and anyway he was no match for Jett and his freakishly amazing skills with his shoge. Tripp never came within half of metre of hitting Jett and Jett had given Tripp some fairly decent hits. Plus, now that the adrenaline of our past battle had worn off of him, Tripp seemed to be struggling a little with that leg of his, not that he could be blamed for that, he had had that knee dislocated and had had a knife thrown into his calf, some issues were to be expected.

A few metres to the left of Jett were Davion and Caden who had once again combined their forces, only this time they were teaming up against a different opponent, Velvet. Velvet was down to one scythe, I had stolen the other one off her in our first, well technically second if you count the whole stabbing incident, encounter. However at some point over the past couple of days she had acquired a large, circular shield, which was really the only thing keeping her alive against the two boys. Every time they looked like they had her she would quickly manage to block their attacks with the shield and then be out of immediate danger again. However she, like me, was definitely on the defensive. There was just about as much chance of her beating Caden and Davion as there was of me beating Angora. In other words, absolutely no chance at all.

After diving out of the way of another one of Angora's kill blows I was about to suggest some sort of trade, as fun as getting my ass handed to me by Angora was I kind of wanted to live to see the sun go down, when suddenly the wall of locusts surrounding us slowly opened behind the careers. I genuinely considered making a break for it when it suddenly became painfully obvious why the locusts were separating. They weren't giving us a chance to get out; they were letting the last one of us in. From behind Tripp's annoyingly large head I could see something small and pale heading towards us with remarkable speed, a familiar black mass on her heels. It wasn't exactly all that difficult to guess who it was heading towards us; there were eight people left in the arena, seven of them were fighting in here, you do the math. And yep, you guessed it, within seconds Serenity was amidst the fray, mind you she looked absolutely stunned seeing us all fighting in here.

Luckily for me Serenity's arrival distracted Angora momentarily and she swung around to attack Serenity and defend herself from this new threat that had appeared behind her. However, as fast as she was to attack Serenity and swing her mace out towards Serenity's skull, she wasn't fast enough to get back around to me in time. I took that fleeting moment I had while she had her back to me to launch myself into the air and drive one of my knives down into Angora's flesh. I had been aiming for her heart but she had shifted just before I got her and instead I had plunged the knife into the back of her left shoulder blade. Angora roared in pain at the same time as she turned around, luckily missing Serenity in the process, and flung her right arm out to strike me. With all that bulk on her I suppose I should have guessed just how damn strong she would be, but I hadn't, and the minute she made contact with me I was flung backwards a good five paces and sent sprawling in a heap on the ground.

I landed much harder than I thought I would and almost all my weight had fallen onto my left arm which of course caused a startling jab of pain to course through it. Thankfully I hadn't hit my head in the process but that didn't mean it was easy to stand. Almost every single bone and muscle in my body screamed in protest at me when I tried to move even an inch. I managed to turn myself over so that I was facing upwards but I almost wished I hadn't. Angora was standing over the top of me, mace raised as high in the air as she could get it, and was about to bring it down and literally bash my brains out. Adrenaline kicked in immediately and suddenly the pain seemed considerably less than it had before. I rolled over as quickly as I could, literally feeling the wind shift next to me as the mace missed my skull by about a millimetre. Angora had the mace in the air again in an unbelievably short time and once again I only managed to get out of the way the second before her mace hit the ground next to me. This was bad. Very, very bad. I couldn't keep doing this for much longer. In fact the next time she brought the mace down towards me I was sure I wasn't going to make it out of the way in time. Yet, when I looked up, the mace was gone and I didn't remember hearing that thunderous 'thud' when it hit the ground that time. I looked over to my left and saw Caden's sword underneath Angora's mace, taking the full weight of the blow that was supposed to kill me.

"Eora," Caden grunted as he used all his strength to push back Angora's mace, "help Davion."

I shot up as fast as I could, ignoring the pain that darted through my body and turned quickly to look at Davion. I couldn't quite understand why Caden wanted me to help him, I mean sure, the fight between he and Velvet had become slightly less one sided now that Caden wasn't there but Davion was still holding his own. He didn't really look like he needed my help. And as much as I wanted to rip Velvet to pieces and feed them to the locusts, the rational part of my brain told me we should put the extra man, or woman in this case, in wherever she was most needed. With my mind running at a mile a minute like it was Caden's reasoning became obvious in less than a heartbeat.

_It's not that Davion needs you; Caden just wants you as far away from Angora as possible. She's the biggest threat_, _she's the most likely to hurt you. He's protecting you...again._

If I had been the sane person I thought I was, I probably should have listened to him. I should have simply looked after myself and gone with the absolute safest option, aka getting as far away from Angora as possible. As it was, I was apparently not as sane as I had hoped. Caden and Angora were very equally matched, that was obvious from all their previous battles, but still I wasn't going to let Caden fight her on his own. Like I said, she was the biggest threat. She was the most likely to hurt him. And I was _not _going to let her hurt him.

"Like hell I'm leaving you with her," I yelled back as I attempted to come up behind Angora and distract her, but before I even got the chance a sound stopped all of us, and I mean all of us, in our tracks. Buzzing.

The locusts from behind us were getting closer to us at an alarming speed and the locusts in front of us were getting further away at the same speed. As you could have guessed, all hell broke loose. Our neat structure was immediately disbanded as all of us started running as fast as we can. Even in my panicked state I could see what was going on here. Despite the ridiculous speed they were travelling at the locusts still managed to keep their perfect circle around all of us as we ran, meaning we were still trapped within a limited perimeter. They were herding us. They were driving us further downhill for no apparent reason. I finally joined the dots and realised that these damned insects could not be natural, there was no way that locusts could work with such precision on such grand a scale naturally. They were mutts. Crap. Why did it always have to be mutts?

Running downhill at this pace like we were became frantic to say the least. Every single one of us was running for our lives, no longer focusing on anything else but staying alive. As it was this meant that we were all running together in a sort of pack and I found myself amongst both allies and enemies as I ran down the hill. At one point a pair of hands caught me from behind as I was hurtling my way down and attempted to throw me to the ground. I didn't even stop running, I just turned, kicked my foot out behind me with all the strength I had and to my delight sent Tripp flying back a couple of metres, completely knocking the wind out of him. Served the asshole right.

I hoped that if I didn't attack anyone they wouldn't attack me, which would hopefully keep me alive long enough to kill them later, but when I saw Velvet running on my right I couldn't resist the opportunity. I quickly grabbed one of the knives at my waist and sent it sailing through the air towards her head. Unfortunately she wasn't as dumb as I give her credit for and she saw it coming just before it hit her, giving her enough time to use that bloody shield to deflect it. Stubborn as I was, I decided it was worth another shot so I sent another knife flying, this one faster than the other and while she managed to block it so it didn't kill her she couldn't stop it all together and I took immense pleasure in seeing it cut across her collarbone. Score one for Eora.

After running for about five minutes I was considering the possibility that I was wrong about the locusts herding us to a new location. Perhaps they were just making us run until we all got to the point where we simply couldn't take another step. It seemed like that was the plan, because while I was still good to go on for a while lots of the others seemed to be tiring around me. Between fighting, running and fighting whilst running I was feeling my strength slowly ebb away and it was pretty obvious everyone else was getting weary too. If the gamemakers had any real point to making us sprint for our lives other than just doing it to torture us they would need to show it soon, otherwise we might all die before we actually got to wherever we were going. Running like this wasn't easy, even for me whose single, solitary claim to fame was being able to run. Not only did we have to make sure no one killed us while we were running but we had to constantly bash the foliage out of our way and dodge the endless amount of trees that kept popping up everywhere. And don't even get me started on the heat , it was still there, as unbearable as it was before, only now I was sprinting for my life through a bloody forest. With every step the heat pressed down on me, leeching the energy out of me until it was all I could do to keep putting one foot after the other. It was hell, in all honesty, doing this was hell.

Eventually we made it to the base of the mountain, out of the forest and into the valley. Since I was the one leading the pack I was the first to reach the valley clearing and was first to nearly run head-first into the river. What the hell? When did that get so damn close? From memory the river was a good two hundred metres from the base of the mountain last time we crossed it but this time I had quite literally almost fallen into it after emerging from the trees.

The locusts had stopped again, still keeping their little circle around us and making sure we had absolutely no point of escape. I turned back around just as the last of my fellow tributes was emerging from behind the trees and I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that the minute we has stopped the fighting had resumed. This time Jett and Davion were facing off with Angora, which I don't think was how she hoped things would turn out because every so often she'd look over at Caden with a look that was quite obviously bloodlust, and Caden was fighting in some weird kind of triangle against both Serenity and Tripp, all three of them attacking the other two. That left me with Velvet. Prefect.

When she also did the math she turned around and met me with an icy glare, but underneath her eyes I could see something manic, almost crazed, that seemed to possess her while she looked at me. I simply gave her a cocky smile in return and lifted my hand up and gestured to her in a way that when translated basically said _come at me bitch._ She snarled at me before lurching towards me; scythe out in front of her. The move was predictable, exactly what I would have expected from her, so it was ridiculously easy to simply dodge out of her way and using her momentum against her drop to a crouched position, swing my leg out and knock her legs out from beneath her, sending her crashing to the floor in a heap. Finally I had her in a position where I could kill her once and for all, but she was so damn fast. I had only just got up myself when she managed to get back onto her feet and turned around to look me in the eye. This time there was nothing subtle about the crazed rage contorting her beautiful face into something almost demonic and malevolent. Looking into her distorted face it was hard to picture her as that sweet, innocent, gorgeous girl she had appeared to be when we first met. I thought she was going to attack me again, but apparently what the message she wanted to convey couldn't be sent by punches.

"You _bitch!_" she yelled at me, "Look! _You _did that to him!"

Ok that lost me for a second until she flung her arm out and pointed to Jett who was fighting against Angora off to our right.

"Angora's going to kill him and it will be _all your fault!" _This time she did lunge at me, but not with her scythe, that had fallen out of her hand when I had floored her. Instead she just lunged at me, throwing all of her weight at me and tackling me to the ground. She was on top of me, pinning me down with her weight and clawing at my face. Luckily I still had the room to manoeuvre my arms and managed to defend my face so she didn't actually lay a finger on me but the frenzied attacks were hard to block. I quickly jabbed my closed fist out towards he face, enjoying the satisfying 'crack' that I heard when my fist made contact with her nose. She screamed and moved her hands over her nose, which was now bleeding heavily, which gave me the opportunity the shift her weight off me and escape from underneath her. Once I was up and on my feet again I could feel myself panting from both the exertion of fighting her and the realisation of just how close that had been. If Velvet had had a weapon then I would have died. Velvet was back on her feet in an instant again, seemingly no longer bothered by her broken nose or the blood that was streaming down her face and over her lips.

"You selfish little _slut_!" she screamed in rage, slowly making her towards me, "You don't even want him; you just don't want him to be with me! Because you're jealous of me! Because I'm so much smarter than you, so much stronger, so much prettier! You just can take it, that I'm perfect and you're nothing but scum!"

On any other day I would have defended myself but it wasn't hard to see that Velvet was beyond rationality right now. If she hadn't been acting like a drugged up psychopath I probably would have laughed at her thinking she was smarter than me and would have begrudgingly accepted that she would always be prettier than me but looking at her now all I saw was a snarling, murderous monster who was probably the ugliest human being on the planet.

"You're insane!" I shouted back, slowly trying to retreat to the point where I was out of her range.

"You _stole_ him from me!" Good to know my comments are always acknowledged, "Jett loves _me! _Can't you see that, _he loves me!" _

I turned quickly out of desperation, hoping that maybe I could some help over here. As eager as I was to finish of Velvet by myself I wasn't sure that I was any sort of match for this completely psychotic new Velvet who apparently wanted me dead whatever the cost. But in that moment that I had looked over everything seemed to change. Jett and Davion were still facing off against Angora but little Serenity, who had been standing behind her, had seen an opening and had launched herself at Angora from behind, but even I could see that it was too obvious, and that Angora was far too good to be taken down by a move as primitive as that. In one motion Angora had turned around, using her momentum to swing her mace around with her, and had smashed it into the side of Serenity's skull.

I had to put both my hands over my mouth to stop myself from screaming at the sight of Serenity's tiny body flying through the air before coming to crash onto the dirt a good ten metres from where she had been standing before. The canon had fired before she had even landed. I stood rooted to the spot where I was in shock, staring at Serenity's lifeless body lying in a tangled heap of limbs on the ground, her eyes still open but no longer filled with any life. I couldn't look anymore, I turned around, feeling myself shaking as I did so, not able to control the quivers or repulsion that were overtaking me. Serenity...that tiny, beautiful, innocent little girl...her skull bashed in like that to the point where the right half of her face was unrecognisable. I didn't need to be looking at her body to know that it wasn't only blood that was escaping out from her shattered skull. She didn't deserve to die like that, no one did. It was the worst thing I had ever seen in my life. I could feel myself starting to hyperventilate as the memory of Serenity getting knocked off the ground came back to me, making the shaking get worse to the point where I literally felt like I would throw up. But then something pulled me back to reality. At the sound of the cannon the locusts circle had broke up, they're eerily perfect synchronisation abandoned, and know there were hundreds of them swarming around me.

I ran as fast as I could, trying to keep the locusts away from me but the damn things were unnaturally fast and they kept on my tail in hot pursuit. Every so often a few of them would catch up to me and I'd feel the familiar nips of the back of my legs which would set my panic in again and I would take off even faster than I had before. I made my way back onto the mountain, hoping that the trees would slow them down. Nope, no such luck. I quite honestly thought this was going to be it, they were simply going to run me into the ground to the point where they would just swarm over me. But after running for about ten minutes I heard the buzzing stop. I turned around and they were gone, almost like they had never been there. They simply disappeared. Stoping to catch my breath I slumped to the ground, no longer able to hold myself up anymore.

Lying in the fallen leaves and soft dirt of the forest floor was strangely therapeutic. Life was so still down here, so peaceful. I allowed everything that had happened today, all the emotions, all the pain, just ebb away from me, simply becoming a part of the world down here. I imagine that below me the floor was teeming with life, well it would have been if it was real but since the gamemakers built everything they probably didn't need to introduce the species that would have been crucial in the forests survival.

_This isn't real Eora. This is just the tomb the Gamemakers built you. You know what is real: district twelve, your home. Lying on the floor like a corpse isn't going to get you anywhere. Wake up, man up, grow up and get home._

Damn, my subconscious can really be a bitch. As much as I wanted to simply lie here and forget everything else in the world I knew what my subconscious had said was true. This place was suffocating me, slowly, painfully, and if I didn't get out soon I might never get out at all. Going against everything my body was screaming at me I slowly sat up, hating my subconscious for making me go on. Once I was back on my feet and in a rational state of mind I tried to figure out where the hell I had ended up. The sun was hidden behind the mountain from where I was, which meant I was on the east side of the mountain but I had no idea how far up the mountain I was. Then suddenly my mind realised something.

"Caden? Jett?" It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, calling out their names, considering that with my luck Angora would probably be the one to hear me. But in my frenzied panic I hadn't even noticed that they weren't running right beside me. I had been so preoccupied with saving myself that I didn't realise that we must have been divided and herded into different directions. They were both out there somewhere but I had no idea how to find them.

_If they're both still alive._

Is it possible to slap one's own subconscious?

The locusts had separated us, sending us off to different sections of this giant arena. Great, that was going to be easy to fix, just few dozen hectares to search, that's not all that hard. I was about to start out looking for them when the realisation of what that truly meant sunk into me.

For the first time since the Games had begun I was alone, truly on my own. And the thought was terrifying.

**A/N: Ok you caught me, I'm stalling...I just don't want it to end! Sorry about the delay guys but hopefully the action was worth the wait. As always thanks to those of you who reviewed the last chapter and hopefully I'll talk to you guys soon.**

**xxC**


	35. Alone

My whole life I'd kind of considered myself somewhat of an individual. Living the kind of life I had lived you got a whole lot of time by yourself, which actually suited me just fine. I wouldn't go so far as to say I was a loner, I had had plenty of friends and while I wasn't exactly great with people I wasn't bad either, I was just the kind of person who spent a lot of time on their own. Before Dori and Raine were born I was an only child and being secluded like that helps you to adapt to being by yourself a lot. And I mean yes, my recent life basically revolved around school and my twin sisters, but when you consider that those two sisters weren't even old enough to write their own names they don't exactly count as stimulating company. Plus they both went to sleep at like seven o'clock which meant I had plenty of very lonely nights. But that never bothered me, I liked being on my own, I always have. There is something strangely therapeutic and calming in being completely left to your own devices. To just be able to think, to dream and not have to worry about anyone else around you. Those moments when I could just retreat into my own subconscious and let everything else fade away had begun to become the parts of my day I looked forward to, and ironically being alone was the time I felt the most together.

This...this was different. Being isolated like this was nothing like just being on my own. This felt like I was completely deserted, abandoned without hope of being helped. Walking through the thick mountain foliage was absolutely terrifying now that I was all alone. Every sound turned into footsteps approaching and I jumped out of my skin. Every time a leaf brushed against me I flinched thinking it was someone grabbing onto me. Every time I saw any movement ahead of me I immediately grabbed onto my knives and prepared to throw...at nothing. I couldn't believe how damn tense I'd become but I swear every rational thought was just lost on me. I couldn't get a hold of myself, and my imagination being what it is I was dreaming up all kinds of potential horrible situations now that I was all alone. Simplest and most realistic of course was simply that the locusts would come back and slowly eat all the skin of my body, which was enough to keep me moving at least.

And so that was what I did, I kept walking, never slowing. I swear I walked for a good two hours before I even stopped for a break I was that scared of being found. I know, I'm pathetic. But it was terrifying and I found myself looking over my shoulder like every minute to make sure there was no one behind me. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears because it was just so damn quiet. That was the worst part, the perpetual silence. When I had been with Caden and Jett they two of them were always talking to me, I guess I'd never noticed just how comforting the sounds of their voices had been.

Great here I am again, thinking about them _again_. God what is the matter with me? Seriously, missing them from a strategic point of view would be okay but this is bordering on obsessive. Literally every five minutes I see something, hear something, and it reminds me of either Caden or Jett. And I mean of course I miss them, who wouldn't after spending so much time with the two of them, but the issue isn't just that I'm alone and want company, the issue is that what I miss is simply being around them, having them near me. I missed the way Jett used talk about his family to distract me, how Caden always forced the sleeping bag on me, how the two of them bickered like an old married couple, the way Caden's eyes lit up when he smiled at me, the time he lay so close to me I could feel the warmth coming off his body, the way his arms felt around me-

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop right there. New topic _now. _

Shit I can't think of one...what is a good topic that people always bring up when trying to avoid another one? The _weather! _ I am an idiot.

So yeah, the weather, it was still so damn hot that I was literally sweating enough to hydrate this entire forest. Even though I was on the shady side of the mountain it was killing me, I literally couldn't stand it. It felt like because the sun was setting it should have been getting a little cooler but it just wasn't, it was infuriating. If I wasn't so damn tired I would have started ranting and shouting at the gamemakers telling them to turn down the damn heat because I knew that this was their idea of some really cruel, sick joke. Or I could just try and ask them politely, that had seemed to work for Jett-

And here I am again. Welcome to my painfully circular thought patterns. New topic...food.

One of the biggest and most genuine issues of having been separated from Jett and Caden was that between the two of them they had been carrying the majority of the food, particularly the meat. In my pack I had a couple of left over bread roles and scraps of dried meat from what Haymitch had sent us yesterday but it wasn't going to be enough to survive on for long. I begrudgingly decided I needed to try and hunt for some food, because as much as I hated the idea, it was probably smart to hunt now while I had food so that if I came up completely dry.

I had a few failed attempts at taking down any game before I had any real successes. I found some strange possum like animals in some of the trees around me at one point but as it was they were too high up for me to be able to properly gauge a takedown method, and they were so freaking fast it was unnatural. Then after that I tried, and failed abysmally, to nail some large fish that were in a stream I passed but I soon decided that fishing should be left to the people in district four because in all honesty I was pathetic. My first kill was a small fox that had had similar intentions to me with regards to the fish but, unfortunately for it, ran into me on its way to dinner. I discovered much to my despair that if there was such a thing as fox anorexia this one had it. There was so little meat on it that it was ridiculous. I stripped all the meat of it, not wanting to waste anything, but it really wouldn't have been enough to tempt a vulture let alone feed a person.

By the time it was dusk I was ready to give in and just set up camp somewhere but thankfully I stumbled upon a grove full of dozens of berry bushes. No, I was not planning to live off berries for the next however long I live, it was the things _eating _the berries that I was interested in. My lucky break came at last in the form of some strange, flightless birds. They were smallish and kind of resembled chickens but their plumage was so thick and plush looking that it almost looked like fur, all of them varying in colour but most of them were either white or black. I could barely see any of their eyes behind the feathers atop their heads which reminded me of messy mops of hair. They were obviously birds, I mean feathers, wings and beaks are kind of a giveaway, but considering how large some of their bodies were their wings were pretty tiny. They were crazily placid, none of them even looked in any way wary of any kind of attack, which surprised me because I know I don't have the world's lightest feet. Looking at the birds the name 'Silkie' came to mind but I wasn't really sure how I knew that.

I picked out a few of the larger ones that were closer to me and got a few of my knives ready, bracing myself to throw. In a quick action I had released the two knives in my hands and had sent them sailing after my prey. Considering how many of them there were in a snap decision I made up my mind to launch a third knife at a third Silkie just in case. My first two shots were perfect and both birds fell as soon as they were hit. My third missed by a long shot because in the panic caused by my first two kills all the other birds had begun running away. Not flying away, running away. Ignoring the birds I had already taken down I snatched my failed knife off the ground and chased after one of the slower silkies and upon catching it plunged the knife into its back. I felt kind of bad for the bird, I mean they had just been so damn peaceful, but at the same time I got over it pretty quickly when my stomach started rumbling. I slowly walked back over to my other two birds and picked them up by their neck but when I looked back up I screamed. I wasn't alone in this thicket any more.

Davion was looking back at me, his pickaxe held out defensively in front of him and his weight in an even stance, the kind that was braced to deflect a blow. I quickly retreated back a few paces, dropped my game and grabbed onto two of my knives, holding them out in front of me. Now that I was on a different angle I could see how I would have missed him before. The sport that I had been watching the birds from was completely obscured by foliage from his spot, and vice versa, even though they were literally five metres apart from each other.

The look on his face wasn't one of fear and surprise, like I imagine mine was, but it wasn't a bloodthirsty one either. He looked...wary. Like he was waiting to see what I was going to do before he made a move. I couldn't help but stare at the scar on his face, it was just so gruesome. The way it cut across his nose and came so scarily close to his eye, so close in fact that his eye kind of hitched up at the corner. Even though his expression wasn't anything fearful I couldn't help but be kind of scared of him.

We stood like that for a few silent moments, both of us wondering what the other was going to do, both of us waiting for the other to attack. What the hell was he doing? This guy made absolutely no sense, one minute with me the next against me, and all for reasons completely unknown to me. Slowly, and with that suspicious look still on his face, he lowered his pickaxe so that it was just hanging in his hands.

"I won't attack if you don't," he said strongly, "I don't want to hurt you."

If I had been in a slightly more suicidal mood I would have shouted the first thing I that came to mind which was 'Why the hell not?' but luckily I contained myself.

I hesitantly lowered my knives, making sure to keep them within reaching distance. Since I had absolutely no idea what this guy's deal was I was in no way going to trust him enough to leave myself defenceless.

"Alright," I said, my voice sounding more questioning than affirming, "I won't attack you."

And with that he gave a small nod and walked backwards a few paces, making sure not to turn his back to me, before he turned around and started walking away. Wanting nothing more than to get some answers from this guy, plus now that I'd actually found another living, breathing human being the chance at not being alone any more was too good to give up, I did something stupid. I yelled after him.

"Seriously?" I shouted after him, making him stop in his tracks, "You're just going to materialise out of nowhere and then vanish without giving me any kind of answers _again?_"

He turned back around, a disinterested look on his face, "Yep."

It took everything I had not to roll my eyes at his absurdly male bluntness, "Well...we could stick together for a while. I think we could both use the help," I looked down at the dead birds at my feet, 'And I have food."

That almost seemed to humour him, almost, "I've lasted ten days out here by myself with no aid from anyone else. What makes you think I need your help?"

Touché. I was willing to concede that point, "Fine, maybe _I _could use the help. But maybe _you_ could use the company."

"What makes you say that?"

_Oh I don't know, you're general abrasiveness, lack of basic social skills and caustic nature. But I guess I must be crazy for thinking that spending some time with another person would actually do you any good._

While I searched for something not quite so malicious and slightly more rational to say Davion looked away from me and sighed.

"Look I'm not your keeper," the guy seriously could not have looked more bored or indifferent if he tried, "I'm not going to tell you what to do. If you want to follow me, follow me. But don't expect anything of me if you chose to stick with me."

I did my best not to look as happy as I felt at the thought of finally having some company, "Fine. I don't."

"Good," he said as he turned around and started walking away. I picked up my game and hurried after him, not wanting to lose him after I'd just argued to get him to deal with me.

"By the way," I panted once I'd actually caught up to him, "My name's Eo-"

"No names," he said as he cut me off by raising his hand up in front of me, "They're too personal. By naming something you form an attachment to it, and you begin to see it as a living being, something to which you can ascribe some kind of feeling. If you are going to be hanging around me I'll call you 'Twelve' and you can call me 'Nine' that way nothing gets more complicated than a simple temporary combination of assets."

"But I already know you're name Davio- I mean Nine," I pointed out, "And as impersonal and uninterested as you pretend to be I think you know my name as well. And this may come as some shock to your system but I actually _am _a living being, so if you don't want to use my name to spare yourself a future guilty conscience it's pointless because honestly the thing you _should _feel guilty about is looking at a fellow human being and seeing nothing but a piece of meat."

"I never said I thought you were a piece of meat Twelve. I just don't want you to think that I'm like either of your little groupies. I'm not looking to make any friends so I didn't plan to raise your hopes."

"Look Nine," I couldn't quite keep the slight annoyance out of my voice, "I'm not a complete idiot like you seem to think I am. I'm realistic and I can see as plain as day that you have no intention of letting anyone get close to you, which I respect. You don't have to spell it out for me, I get it. In truth I don't really want to be your friend anyway, I just think that by having two of us we can watch each other's backs until the next catastrophe hits, which it will." I paused for a second, "And Caden and Jett are not my groupies."

He smiled a little at that, 'Right, whatever you say."

And for a while, that was the end of all our conversation. Davion walked at such a fast pace that I was struggling to keep up with him most of the time, I would say it was just because he was so much taller than me but in reality I don't think that's what it was. There was something strange about the way that Davion carried himself, he had a purpose in his stride, like he actually knew where he was going and had an envisioned destination. I had to say it was better than my aimless wandering by a long shot. He quite obviously had very little interest in talking to me so I didn't bother trying to strike up a conversation. It wasn't really a discussion I needed, I just liked having another human presence near me, it made me feel less like I was deserted. Despite his seemingly purposeful stride Davion didn't appear to have a set path. Every so often he would stop for one blissful second, consider his options and chose a direction and I would hurry off behind him. I swear at one point I just wanted to yell at him to ask where the hell he was going but I think he would have just ignored me.

He literally didn't stop until the sun had completely set and the moonlight was the only thing illuminating our surroundings. For a panicked second I thought he wasn't going to stop at all but eventually, at one random location, he dropped the pack on his back, sat down on a rock and began unpacking.

"This looks like a good enough place to stop don't you think Twelve?" He asked as he pulled out a flint.

I'll admit I was kind of surprised he bothered to ask me, with both knew that he didn't need any approval from me. I looked around at the place he'd picked, it was nothing special, neither particularly open nor filled with foliage. I shrugged my shoulders as I sat down, "It's better than some of the other places I've slept in the past ten days."

He began lighting a fire in front of him, "Why don't you get the meat off those birds you so rudely took down before I had a chance to."

I was almost shocked, did he just make a joke? I shrugged it off and scoffed at him, 'Right. As a matter of interest just how did you plan to take down any of those birds? Surely not with that pickaxe?"

"With this," he said before he reached into his bag and pulled out a very familiar looking crossbow.

"Is that Tripp's crossbow?" I asked, astonished, "How the hell did you get it?"

Davion shrugged, "He dropped it this morning in the fight before the locusts divided us and I picked it up before we all started making a run for it."

"Well better you have it than Tripp," I said smiling a little at the thought of Tripp with nothing but Dahlia's old crappy spear.

"That's exactly what I thought."

I was about to ask him where he ended up after the locusts split us all up but the anthem started playing before I had the chance. Davion looked up at the sky but I focused in on getting the feathers off my silkies. I didn't want to look up at the sky, not when I knew who's face I would see. I didn't want to see Serenity's gorgeous little face because I knew that if I looked at her the only thing I would see would be the image of her after Angora had bashed her skull in. Just thinking about it was making me feel physically sick and I had no intention of reliving that particular memory.

Once the anthem finished and the seal went away I could feel Davion looking at me.

"It had to happen," he said, obviously guessing what I was thinking. Perhaps I was wrong about his lack of social skills, he seemed to be able to read me pretty well.

I shook my head, "It _didn't _have to happen. Not like that."

"She'll pay," Davion said, more emotion in those two words than I'd heard from him all day. When I looked back up at him there was a fire in his eyes that I was in no way prepared for.

I shook my head, "No one's even laid a finger on her yet. She has to be the favourite to win this thing."

"Screw the odds. Who can possibly predict what the hell is going to happen in here next? This is anyone's game."

I smiled at him, "That's uncharacteristically optimistic of you Nine."

He shrugged and went back to kindling his fire and I went back to preparing the meat. We decided to simply cook them in chucks which we put onto sticks like skewers over the fire. It wasn't exactly the most elegant cooking method but it did the job. In the end between the two of us we only needed one of the birds, they had had quite a bit of meat on them, which meant we had more for tomorrow which was a relief. After we'd finished eating I finally burst.

"Okay," I started, trying to think of how to phrase this properly so he would actually listen to me, "I want to ask you some questions. And before you interrupt and tell me that I don't need to know and I shouldn't care these are all questions from a strictly strategic point of view so they are legitimate questions."

He seemed to consider my words hesitantly before speaking, "Okay. Fine. Fire away."

"Why do you keeping fighting with Jett, Caden and I whenever we see you? And why did you save me in the bloodbath? And why aren't you trying to kill me right now? Not giving you any ideas or anything but it would be well within your rights, I mean we're down to the final seven so I wouldn't blame you for not hesitating to try and kill me."

He sat in silence for a while before he sighed and then proceeded to answer my swarm of questions.

"Well, firstly, it should be noted that there is a difference between fighting _with_ someone and fighting against the same person as someone."

Well that was irritatingly cryptic.

"But I think that before I can answer the first two questions I should answer the last one," he took a deep breath, "Back home, in District Nine, I have a pretty large family. Two sisters and an older brother, plus my parents of course."

"Okay?" I didn't really see why I needed his life story here but now that he was finally giving me answers I didn't want to stop him.

"But when I was younger, I had another brother. His name was Xavier, he was seven years older than me and he was the genuinely nicest person I have ever known. Five years ago, my other brother Matthias was reaped to participate in the fifty-third Hunger Games, but Xavier being Xavier volunteered to take his place." I watched Davion as he was telling this story and it was easy to see that this wasn't easy for him to say, "He made it out of the bloodbath alive but the day after the career pack hunted him down and killed him in cold blood. But they didn't just let him die quickly, they dragged it out, torturing him, wanting to see his pain and hear him scream. They cut off his limbs, they kicked him and punched him in the places they cut him, they treated him like he was nothing but dirt under their feet. After everything they did to him they didn't even finish him off, they just left him lying there bleeding as his life bled out of him. Matthias and I watched the whole thing, both of us just wishing they'd put our brother out of his misery. It was easily the worst thing I have ever seen in my life, to see my brother who had always been so strong tormented like that."

I could see the pain in his face and I couldn't even imagine how seeing all those terrible things happen to his brother would have affected him. In that moment I hoped beyond hope that Alara wasn't letting Dori and Raine watch me, I wouldn't ever want them to have to witness anything like that happening to me.

"After that day Matthias and I made a pact, that if either one of us ever ended up in the Hunger Games, we would hunt down each and every single member of the career pack and finish them off before we even laid a scratch on another tribute," he looked back up at me, "And I haven't broken my promise yet, and I don't plan to. So I won't even lay a finger on you until all three of those monsters are dead at my feet."

Suddenly the pieces all started falling into place, "So it wasn't that you were fighting with us, it was just that you were fighting the careers and we just happened to be doing so as well."

He nodded, "Yep. Plus your boys aren't all that bad, they made pretty good fighting partners."

"And you didn't save me," I deduced, "You just used Velvet's attention on me as a distraction and an opening to attack her."

"Bingo."

I frowned as a thought popped into my brain, "But...what about Jett. You fought _with_ him; you didn't even try to kill him."

Davion's face softened a little, "Look, to me he's proved that he's not one of them. For one, a career would never ally with a district twelve tribute," he looked at me apologetically, "no offense."

"None taken."

"And from what I've seen of his feelings towards you, they seem pretty...human, genuine. In his case I can see past that fact that he's from district one and see that he's actually a good guy."

I was genuinely shocked this time. Wow, I was definitely wrong about his lack of social skills. He may not want to get to know anybody else but he sure as hell knew how to read people. Maybe I was the one with no basic social skills because I had been completely off the mark when I had thought he was indifferent and abrasive. He's not callous, he's just crazy smart.

"I...I want to apologise," I stammered stupidly.

He frowned a little, "About what?"

"I- I judged you," I confessed, "Because of the scar. I couldn't see past what was right in front of my eyes and I just assumed you were a really cold, harsh, scary kind of person without actually knowing anything about you. But I was wrong, you're actually really decent. And if it means anything to you, I hate that you're in here."

He smiled a little as he shrugged, "It's okay, I'm used to it. People see it and they assume the worst about me and normally I can't be bothered to contradict them so I just run with it. That's why my mentor told me to go with that kind of angle for my interview, because everyone would believe it. At least you're honest about it. Most people just try and pretend it's not there when it's so obvious that it bothers them."

"It's not okay, I shouldn't have made any assumptions about you when I knew nothing about you," cursing my own curiosity I asked, "If it's okay, can I ask how you got that? It looks like it was terrible."

Considering we were talking about the permanent marring of his face Davion seemed quite nonchalant and in an offhand kind of way he said, "Oh yeah sure, I mean I know how you got yours so why not? Um I think it was...three years ago I was arrested with a few others for public protests. I probably shouldn't say just what we were protesting because, you know," he pointed up at the sky then at his ear and I got the message _they're always listening _and I nodded, "But yeah since I was a minor they couldn't put me in jail or kill me so I got twenty lashes. I have scars on my back as well but you can't see them as easily. When the peacekeeper came back to let my out after my whipping I spat on his shoes and he kind of snapped and he used the whip to take out his rage and well...yeah...I won't go into details."

I winced, "I'm sorry."

He waved it off, "It was a long time ago. I'm over it. I don't care about what I look like, and I don't care that other people are scared of me. The only people I do care about can see past the face."

I thought that was kind of amazing, "I wish I thought about myself like that. With so much confidence, and strength. Like you know everything you want and everything you need to do to get it."

He took another deep breath, "Look, you apologised to me for judging me before you got to know me, now I think I should do the same."

"Okay?" I suddenly wondered what it was he had judged me on.

"Watching you over the training days and in your interview, the thought that came straight to my mind was 'bloodbath.'" He looked over to me to make sure I wasn't offended or anything but in all honesty I was just puzzled, "I thought you seemed sweet, but simple, and weak. Just one of the thousands to be taken by the games. I didn't think you were going to last it through the first day. But I was wrong, you're much tougher than you look and you have a much stronger will than most of us. And you're definitely not simple, I can see you're smart and that you are persistent. Plus you quite obviously care a lot about other people. So I'm sorry I couldn't see past the pretty face and the kind smile to see the person you actually are," when I didn't say anything for a few seconds he added, "And you're not as sweet as I thought you were. You're far too witty to be called sweet."

It was interesting to see how we had both stereotyped each other with connotations based on each other's appearance but for different reasons. I had assumed he was some scary brute because of his scar and his seemingly harsh attitude and he had assumed I was some weak, ditsy floozy because I looked like one.

"Thank you," I said finally, "I appreciate that."

He smiled a little, 'You're welcome Twelve. You know you're actually not half bad company. But we should probably get some sleep."

"Okay. Do you want me to take first watch?"

He gave a dark chuckle, "You're welcome to but I can tell you know I'm not going to stay up to watch you so I wouldn't bother if I was you."

"You're okay with sleeping unprotected?" After being with two over protective completely paranoid allies for the past ten days this was kind of a reality check for me.

"What do you think I've been doing for the past ten days Twelve?"

"Fair enough," I said with a yawn as I lay down on the soft dirt, "Goodnight then, I guess."

"'Night Twelve."

It was hard getting to sleep knowing that you have absolutely not protection should someone happen to stumble across you sleeping. The only way I could shut up my nag of a subconscious was to remind myself that I had been walking around all day and hadn't run into anyone for hours, that this arena was huge and the chances of someone finding us were pretty slim. Eventually fatigue won out and I slowly drifted into sleep.

When I woke up the next morning and looked around I wasn't quite prepared for what I saw. The fire had been quenched, the evidence removed and all of Davion's stuff was gone. I turned over to where I was sure he had been before I went to sleep but it was like he had never been there. I quickly got up onto my feet and looked around but there was absolutely no sign of him.

"Nine? You there?" I called hopefully, but I think deep down I knew it was futile, "Davion?"

I got no reply, it was still as eerily silent as it had been before. I walked over to my pack and checked through it, everything was still there. Davion had left, but he had left me everything that was mine, even the leftover meat from yesterday. I sighed and looked over the camp and was about to begin packing up to leave when something caught my eye. In the ashes of last night's fair that were in a crisp pile in the dirt one word had been dug into the ground.

_Sorry_.

That was it then, there was no doubt Davion had left then. Once again I was all on my own.

Brilliant.

**A/N: Alright so I know we are still quite a bit away from finding out just who is going to be the Victor of the 58****th**** Hunger Games but I thought you might all like to know that since **_**I**_** do actually know who is going to win I've been tossing up the idea of a sequel for this story. I'm not going to give too much away because obviously there's still a lot you guys don't know at this point but basically it would involve a few of the main characters from this fic and incorporate them into a new one a few years down the track. Thoughts? Like I said it's still early days since this one hasn't even been finished yet but I've written a few scenes for the sequel and now I've kind of got my heart set on it. So I'll probably ask again further down the track but for now Yay or Nay on a sequel for this one?**

**Anyway the next few chapters are going to be biggies everyone so gear up and hopefully I'll see you all soon!**

**xxC**


	36. Admission

_**Admission**_

Even though I could completely understand Davion's reasons for abandoning me, it still pissed me off. Despite how much rational argument my mind was giving me it still stung that he had just up and left me in the middle of the night. While I know that my actions last night were one hundred percent honourable, I still kind of felt like I was walking the 'walk of shame' as I strutted around aimlessly hoping for some further sign of human life. What can I say, I had followed Davion around like a lost puppy, and in a similar way I had blindly put my faith and my trust in a person who quite obviously was never going to let himself get close to anyone. In hindsight, it was humiliating, hence the walk of shame. While I wasn't going to get any grief from anybody else I was giving myself plenty of it.

Day eleven in this hellhole. I almost couldn't believe that I was still here. If anyone had said to me three weeks ago that I would have survived almost a dozen days in the arena of the fifty-eighth Hunger Games I probably would have just laughed at them and said, 'yeah right. Nice joke.' Then again if someone had told me that during that period of time I would have not only killed a career but would have discovered that not one but _two_ guys had feelings for me I would have suggested they get hospitalised. But yet, here I am, barely the same person I had been little over two weeks ago. That Eora was simply a plain, starving orphan girl who was just trying to make it through each day. This Eora was so many other things: Eora the fighter, Eora the murderer, Eora the survivor.

Looking down at my reflection as I bent over a little stream to fill my water flask I noticed that I barely even looked like the girl I remembered. True, structurally I still looked very much the same, light brown hair, deep green eyes, pale features and strong facial structure. But it was deeper than that: in some way...I looked older. Like someone who had actually _lived. _My eyes had lost their youthful hue, the lines of my face were more pronounced and harder. Any youthful innocence I had retained after all the terrors of my life was long gone, which I grieved. I didn't want to have grown up, I was never exactly an immature child but still it was nice to know that I still had time to be carefree if I so chose. Now that was all gone, just one more thing the games had stolen from me.

I felt even more aimless this time around then I had yesterday, probably because it was the morning and I was facing a whole day of being alone and doing nothing. I know: life is exciting. I was hoping that someone somewhere was doing something interesting because I knew I was providing absolutely zero entertainment for all the capitol viewers, and we all know what happens when the capitol people start to lose interest. Boredom + disinterest = the unleashing of some terrible, game changing monstrosity upon us unsuspecting tributes. Who knows, perhaps Angora and Tripp were stirring up some extremely well hidden whirlwind romance that none of us had ever predicted. No? You don't think so? I don't blame you. Well, maybe she was about to knock his head off his neck with that giant mace of hers. See, none of you are even slightly sceptical about that. You never know, I could have completely misread their personalities and they could actually be extremely passionate and emotional people. Why are you laughing? I'm just saying...

The thing is, this was a _big_ arena. I had god knows how many hectares of land around me and the chances of running into an enemy and actually being able to do something worthwhile were pretty much slim to zero. And I hated it, every single second I spent walking with absolutely no purpose I loathed to the point where every time I saw any kind of animal I fired a knife at it just for the sense of actually doing something. That being said, by lunchtime I had a shitload of food.

After lunch, by which time the damn sight of this mountain was beginning to make me sick to my core, I got so desperate that I decided to head down to the base of the mountain and scan the valley to make sure no one was down there. Since I was already pretty low down it only took me close to twenty minutes to get down to the forest's fringe but from there I got considerably more cautious. Can you blame me? The last two times I had been into that valley I had been bitten by fatally venomous snakes and attacked by raging careers. Not exactly a great track record. Instead of actually venturing out into the valley I decided to ring around the base of the mountain and just see if there was anyone out there without actually having to go out there myself.

I marked the place where I had started by smearing a little of the blood from my last kill onto one of the tree trunks near me before I had started off and I would estimate it took me close to four hours to find my way back to that tree. While I hadn't seen anyone out there I had taken notice of the almost unidentifiable movements in the long auburn grass of the valley. If I hadn't been bitten by the vipers' one-two-three-_four _days ago now I would have been completely perplexed by what looked like the grass moving. But I knew better now, those vicious, slithering beasts were just prowling around out there, waiting for the chance to sink their teeth into their next unsuspecting victim. Call me hopeful, but I wanted Angora to venture out into that valley so bad. With all those vipers out there I wasn't nearly brave or stupid enough to make a break for the hillside. Plus, while I did know how to swim, I wasn't exactly enthusiastic about having to swim across that now heavily-flowing river. Why don't I remember that thing being quite so big? I guess it's just one of those things you don't really think you need to take notice of. But strange arena events aside, I still accomplished nothing. And it was completely demoralising. I hadn't felt quite this alone, or quite this wretched and weak, for a very long time.

From everything I'd heard about what people from home had thought of me, none of them had any kind of idea what kind of person I really was. After what had happened to my mother and my step-father people seemed to come to this delusion of me being this unearthly, godlike, martyr whose mental strength was so unbreakable that they all began to think I was literally faultless. I was hardly oblivious to this; I saw the awing glances in my direction, heard the not so subtle whispers about me that would begin as soon as I turned a corner. People came to think of me in such an idolising way that it felt almost dehumanising. And I gave them every reason to think I was that strong, I was the perfect actress. In the open I took on a character, a girl who had absolutely nothing to be unhappy about. I smiled as often as I could, I laughed louder than I normally would have, I went out of my way to show everyone that I was perfectly fine. Hence, everyone believed I was one of the strongest little girls they had ever known. They were wrong.

Behind closed doors, I was a wreck. Their deaths had just been so sudden, so unexpected that I had been completely shattered by them. For the first week I had cried myself to sleep, my despair simply uncontainable. I would wake up, wash my face to hide the evidence of the tears, practice how to smile, how to stand so that I looked just like the girl I had been before and head out the door looking as brave faced and confident as ever. Then as soon as I stepped back through the door to my home I would break down, my misery completely consuming me, before it all started again. Because of the sudden trauma and the stress of having to look after two newborns I lost so much weight that none of my clothes fit me anymore and I could feel my shoulder bones and my hip bones sticking out. Mentally, I spent every spare moment in anguish, each memory of my parents tainted with the absolute sting of their deaths. I can't say when exactly living became bearable, but somehow over an excruciatingly long period of time the pain seemed to fade to the point where it didn't hurt to think of them anymore. But until then no one, not even Alara, knew just how damaged I was. So since people couldn't see my pain they assumed it wasn't there at all.

They mistook my pride for bravery, two completely polar attributes yet they are so often confused. What everyone was really seeing was my reluctance to let anyone see my weakness. The thought that anyone could know just how scared, how weak and how broken I had felt had been almost worse than the actually despair I had felt. Almost. I have said it before and will say it again, I am a fairly proud person, and the idea of being pitied on such a large scale as that was so completely humiliating to me that I refused to give them any reason to think I needed their pity. And it worked, which I supposed was a good thing. But at the same time, it was awfully isolating to know that not one person in the world knew just how much you were hurting.

_But maybe...maybe one person had known. One person in particular. _

Caden had said before that he could see that I had changed after my mother died. What had he said? Something about there being something in my eyes that gave away how broken, how sad I really had been. Could he have known? Could he have known me so well, loved me that much, that he could see past every defence I had put up and noticed what everyone else had missed.

_Caden..._

It was crazy, how even just thinking of him could make my pulse rush like it had. How simply picturing him in my mind could cause that tight, twisting feeling in my stomach and an inexplicable shortness of breath. For a few precious seconds, just imagining the way his arms had felt around me made me forget just how alone I was. But when I opened my eyes and that rapturous feeling was shattered I remembered and the feeling of complete isolation came back with even more fervour than before. And in a habitual kind of way, I did what I had done all those years ago when I had felt as desperately miserable as this, I thought of my mother. However the memory of her that came to mind when I pictured her was quite surprising.

* * *

I had just turned ten years old when a few weeks later my mother had told me that she was going to be marrying my step father. It was no surprise for me of course that the two of them were involved, you can't exactly become involved with a widowed woman with a child without forming some kind of connection with her kid, but I couldn't quite understand why they needed to get married. The idea that she was replacing my dad with this new man had upset me more than my mother had hoped. She could tell that this distressed me so she wasn't exactly surprised when eventually I, being my pertinent and confident little ten year old I was, had confronted her about it.

"Don't you love daddy anymore?" I had asked her one night when she had come to tuck me in to bed.

"What makes you say that?" My mother had this rich timbre to her voice that made her sound unbelievably sincere no matter what she was saying.

"Well you can't love him anymore. Not if you're getting married again." I could remember very clearly how accusing I had sounded.

"Sweetheart, you're very young. You can't quite understand how this kind of thing feels."

"Yes I can," I had rebutted, "I'm _ten. _I'm not a baby. If you're marrying him you have to love him more than _anybody. _More than dad...and more than me."

"Darling, I will always love your father, every day from now until I die. And I will never love anyone more than I love you." I can't believe that I hadn't believed her back then.

"If you still love dad, why are you marrying Hal?"

"It's...complicated sweetie. When you're older, you'll understand that being in love with someone means that above everything else you want that person to be happy. And if you're very, very lucky, what will make that person happy is you. Your father loved me as much as I love him, so even though he's not here anymore he would want me to be happy, no matter what. And Halden makes me happy."

"But do you love Hal?" Hal was my nickname for him, no one else ever called him that, in fact my mother really hated it, but he thought it was cute so he'd let me stick with it. My name being a four letter name with three vowels made it very hard for anyone to nickname so he never came up with one in retaliation, but he did invent some pretty strange ones that never really caught on.

"Of course I do honey. Why else would I be marrying him?" I could still see the way she had smiled at me, like I was so perfectly naive.

"But how can you love both dad _and _Hal?"

"I can't tell you darling, and I hope for your sake that you never have to find out."

I had frowned a little in thought at that. She had laughed at my confused face with her beautifully heartfelt laugh before bending down to kiss me on the forehead. Before she turned around and made it to the door to turn out the light I had quickly fired in another quick question that had been bothering me.

"Hey mum?"

"Yes sweetheart?"

"How do you know that you love Hal?"

She had sighed and looked at me with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. The trials of having a highly intuitive and questioning child I suppose.

"Everybody's different Eora," she had told me softly, "I can't tell you what it will be like for you. But for me it really isn't hard to see. You think about them all the time, sometimes at the strangest of times without even meaning to, and when you think about him, you can feel a smile come across your face and your heart pick up a little. The prospect of seeing him, even if it's only to do nothing, seems like the absolute highlight of the day. And when you haven't seen them for a while, you begin to miss them without any cause to. Most of all, you should be willing to risk being yourself around him. And like I said, more than anything, you just want him to be happy, no matter what it costs you."

I had considered it quickly before promptly declaring, "Love is stupid."

My mother had laughed at me so genuinely it made me smile a little as well, "You'll see my angel. You'll see."

* * *

How on earth did that memory pop into my mind? One minute I was thinking about Caden, the next...

_No...there's no way...I can't be..._

Everything my mother had said that night about what it felt like to love someone, I had already felt. My mother, the most loving and sensible woman on the planet had described what love had been like for her, and now I was developing the same symptoms.

Holy Shit. I think...I think...

I think I'm in love with Caden Rhoades.

As soon as I thought it a whole wave of emotion that I had subconsciously been subduing came crashing down on me. All my denial, all my aversion, had all been for nothing. My actions and reactions over the past few weeks all suddenly started to make sense; the way I felt whenever he was around, how flustered I felt whenever he was close to me, the way body had responded and my heart had sky rocketed when he kissed me. Holy shit. Holy shit.

But this is crazy! I mean I _can't_ be in love with Caden. I've only known him for like three weeks!

_Some people fall in love in seconds. Three weeks is a perfectly respectable amount time to fall in love with someone._

And we're so different in so many ways.

_And also so similar._

He didn't even _want_ me to fall in love with him.

_So he said, when he thought you were completely indifferent and he didn't want to scare you off. But deep down, do you really think he doesn't hope you can return his feelings?_

Great, now I was arguing with my subconscious, and it was winning. I'm definitely going crazy.

But I hadn't even thought about the most pressing issue yet; we were both in the Hunger Games. AT best, only one of us was going to make it out of this arena alive, and he was so damn determined to die for me. The very idea made me feel physically sick to my core and ridiculously panicked. He _couldn't _die, he just couldn't. But at the same time, I didn't want to die either.

_What the hell am I going to do?_

I couldn't think about it, because simply the thought of the near future made me want to break down and cry in the decomposing leaves at my feet, and I refused to let these Gamemakers break me. Not here, not now, not when I was so terribly alone. And not when I had just embraced the fact that I was in love with someone who had become one of my closest friends. And that thought stirred another memory from my brain.

_Oh crap. What about Jett..._

Simply thinking of him brought a pang of something sharp to my chest, something that felt eerily like guilt. Of course I cared about Jett, that hadn't changed simply because of my new revelation about Caden, and admittedly my feelings towards him were far more complicated than that of simply a friend. But...I didn't love him in the same way that it appeared I loved Caden. I can't even explain how it was different, it was so painfully complicated. But Caden was Caden and Jett was Jett. They themselves are both so different in so many ways and in other so infuriatingly similar. Which kind of paralleled my feelings for them both; similar in that I cared for them, different in the ways in _which_ I cared for them. But I couldn't tell Jett that, not when I knew that his hopes and intentions were not the same as mine were. He'd be crushed, he'd feel betrayed if he knew that now, from somewhere deep in my core, he was second to Caden. He'd probably hate me, which is in no way what I wanted.

In frustration I looked up through the canopy of the trees and to the sky. When did this become my life? How did all of this happen to me without me knowing anything about it? The only people I could blame were _them_, the Gamemakers, and by extension, the Capitol. They did this to me. They twisted my life into this pathetic excuse for a life, nothing but torture and pain, in every from of the word. Even the previously good things about this, like Caden or like Jett, were going to be warped and manipulated by them. They were going to take everything I've ever had and I'd ever want. And I hated them for it. I had never loathed anything so much as I detested the Capitol of Panem in that moment. I'd never been rebellious, rebellion is for the desperate, stupid or the crazy, but in that moment I felt like I could walk right into Snow's mansions and rip my knife right across his throat for what he'd turned me into.

But yet, I was still stuck in this arena, still all on my own and still had no idea where to go. So I did what I had done all day, I walked. I walked without a break until the sun had basically set over the top of the mountain. Except this time I had some kind of plan. I walked up. I was heading for the summit, hoping desperately that there was some kind human activity up there, and hopefully someone that I could sink one of my knives into. But as I got higher and higher I noticed something that had been concealed by the mountain before. Something that was an absolute guarantee for finding someone. A tendril of smoke, slowly clawing towards the sky.

The fire looked like it was only a few kilometres to the west of me, so I immediately made a beeline towards it. I ran for the first kilometre and a half but once I thought I was within a certain distance I slowed down to the point where my footsteps where inaudible against the ground. I decided to climb up into the trees and make my way towards the person from above, so that I would be able to see who it was before getting to close and so that I had a good vantage point from which to attack if necessary. Slowly I glided silently from tree to tree, and before too long I could see the light of the fire glowing bright against the dusky setting. I was prepared to sneak up and analyse whoever it was I had stumbled upon, but once I got to within hearing distance that was completely unnecessary.

"Look Blondie, if I'm doing such a terrible job why don't you quit giving yourself a mani-pedi and come cook the meat yourself."

"Watch it Rhoades. It's not my fault your cooking is worse than my cousin Velma's; and that woman used to literally deep fry her butter before she layered it onto her special barbequed snake eye sausages."

"Well how bout next time you actually catch something worth eating then you can decide what you want to do with it."

I nearly fell out of the tree at the sounds of their voices. I almost couldn't quite believe my ears, and considered the thought that I was simply imagining it. I quickly darted my way across a few more trees until I came to rest in one above where they had set up camp. They were really there, Caden and Jett, real flesh and bone. And somehow, beyond all realms of human possibility, they were there together. I considered just staying there and watching them for a little while longer to make sure they were really there and my eyes weren't playing tricks on me but I simply couldn't hold in my laughter at seeing them.

"Look at you two," I yelled down at them from above, laughing as I did so, "Bickering like an old married couple. Some things will never change."

They looked up in almost perfect unison, and the delight and astonishment on their faces probably mirrored mine to a tee. While Caden looked almost disbelieving, like he too couldn't quite believe that I was there, Jett looked absolutely ecstatic and immediately broke out into laughter as well. Then he turned around to Caden with a huge, smug smile on his face.

"See Rhoades! I told you our Eora was smart enough to figure out that we'd be the only ones brave enough to light a fire so openly and follow the smoke to us."

Caden rolled his eyes at Jett before looking back up at me and I had to catch my breath as our eyes locked. How could someone's face show so much expression in barely one moment? He seemed completely enraptured by me and at the same time I could feel all the emotion he felt simply by looking at him. And god was he gorgeous. I had forgotten just how damn good-looking he was, with his perfectly olive skin, his tall, strong frame, his dark tussled hair and of course those amazingly stunning dark blue eyes.

I felt my cheeks flushing under his adoring gaze, before remembering that I was still in a tree, and it was probably a good idea to get out of said tree before I broke my neck. I scrambled down the branches as fast as I possibly could and the moment my feet hit the ground and I was facing the right way Jett's arms enveloped me in a massive bear hug. I rapped my arms around him as he squeezed me so damn tight that it was hard to breathe. I could feel myself smiling as I held onto him and I could feel the drumming of his heart beneath his skin as well as hear his laughter.

"You survived out there in the wild on your own alright princess?" he teased, still in a bone-crushing hug.

"More or less," I admitted, but I said it in such a way that it sounded like I was kidding, "And who you calling princess? I'm not the one from district one. P.s. Oxygen is kind of important for the human respiration process and right now I'm getting very little."

He finally let go of me and pulled me back so that we were looking at each other and I couldn't help but smile at the joy in his face.

"I'm sorry I can't stop smiling," he said with a chuckle, "I'm just so relieved you're okay."

I beamed back at him quickly before he stepped aside so that I could see Caden behind him. For a few seconds I just stood there and looked at him giving me that gorgeous, closed lipped smiled. What would I have normally done in this situation? If I had run into them yesterday how would I have acted around him? Would I have run up to him and thrown my arms around him? Probably; but now that I knew how I felt that action seemed to have obvious connotations. Looking at him standing there like that I knew that I couldn't tell him, not if I wanted him to survive. If I told him I was in love with him he'd become so worried that I'd do something stupid to protect him that he'd go even further out of his way to die for me. And I couldn't let that happen. I loved him. No doubting it now.

_But he can't know._

What should I do? How do I just pretend that I'm nothing more than his friend now that the only thing I can do when I'm looking at him is remember how softly and how expertly his lips had ensnared mine? Just looking at him I was crazy nervous. What did _he_ want me to do? How would he expect me to react? Considering I had run to him and flung myself at him after he'd only been gone half an hour the day that Jett found me I imagine it wouldn't be all that different if I did it now, would it?

I didn't run this time, I walked toward him with long, impatient strides, and he walked towards me. Once we finally did reach each other I threw my arms around his neck, pulling myself up to his height. One of his hands went against the back of my head and the other went around my waist and held me up, pressing me against him. His hold on me was strong and secure, but at the same time gentle, in a soft and compassionate way. I could feel every heaved breath through his body and his warm breath against my neck made my skin tingle.

"I was so worried. But I knew you'd be okay." he breathed into my ear and the very words made my heart do summersaults inside my chest, "But I missed you."

"I missed you too," I whispered back. I had to restrain myself from saying '_more than you could ever know.'_

"Alright now that we're all reunited what do you say we all eat something?" Jett suggested and I immediately took a step back from Caden and nervously avoided eye contact with him, "I'm starving."

"Why am I not surprised?" I said with a teasing smile, "Well what are we eating then?"

Jett stuck his tongue out at me, "Well now that you're here you can be the mediator for us. Rhoades here wanted to simply cook the meat on skewers but I wanted to make a stew out of it for a little variety."

I thought about it, "I could go some stew," to which Jett cheered and Caden groaned, "But I have so much meat from hunting today that we have to use some of it. And we might as well chuck some greens in there as well."

"Alrighty then," Jett said, his ridiculously ecstatic mood so contagious that I couldn't quite help but laugh at him, "I'll go get Aylin's pot out of my bag."

"Do you need me to go get water for the stew?" I asked, getting up as I did.

"No we've got plenty," Caden responded quickly, "Don't worry about it."

"Trust me, water is definitely not going to be a problem anytime soon," Jett said, in the kind of tone that suggested he was dropping some kind of hint but it was completely lost on me.

Caden rolled his eyes as he walked over to the fire to put more kindling on it, "Great, here we go again."

"Look, just because you refuse to listen to me doesn't mean I'm wrong," Jett yelled after him.

"Okay, I'm kind of confused." I interrupted, since I had a feeling they could go on at each other for a while without actually explaining anything.

"Your painfully blonde friend over here thinks that the arena is being flooded," Caden explained with a shrug as he walked back and sat down near us. I couldn't quite make eye contact with him, which made him frown.

"_What_?"

"Oi, my theory, I get to explain." Jett butted in, glaring at Caden in such a childish way it almost made me laugh.

Caden looked at me and winked before whispering, "Ignore him. He's just going crazy; it's nothing to worry about." When I didn't make any kind of acknowledgement of what he said he looked a little perplexed, but in all honesty just being near him was making me want to explode.

It was quite obvious that Jett had heard him but he ignored him and turned to me, "Did you notice how quickly we ran into that river yesterday when those locusts drove us off the mountain?"

While I admit it wasn't the first thing that came to mind when I look back at what happened yesterday but I did remember almost falling into the river after breaking out of the forest, "Yeah...so what?"

"And how much smaller the valley looked?" He looked incredible earnest considering how weird this conversation was.

"Umm...no?"

"Well it wasn't that valley was shrinking," he said matter-of-factly and I had to restrain myself from saying _no shit brainiac, _"The river broke its banks and is rising. I went back after we all got separated and it had risen even further, there is almost no land left between the mountain and the hillside."

"Okay..."I myself had been back to the valley today and while I had noticed that the river looked bigger I thought he was exaggerating a little.

He threw his hands in the air in frustration, "Don't you see what this means? They're shrinking the arena so that they can hurry things up. Before we know it we're going to have every other tribute breathing down our necks!"

"Yeah, but it's not like we can do anything about it," I argued back, "I agree that it is an issue, and it's a good thing we know about it, but right now I think we should focus on the kids out there with maces and knives rather than a river rising by a millimetre."

"Exactly," Caden said with a smug smile.

"Fine," Jett said coldly, "If you guys want to ignore a problem rather than address it that's fine. But when we wake up one morning and find that this mountain has very quickly become an island perhaps you'll wish you had listened to me."

That was the last we discussed of that topic for the rest of the night.

"So what have you two been doing for the last day and a half?" I asked in between mouthfuls of the surprisingly good stew.

Caden and Jett exchanged glances before Caden spoke, "Nothing much. We ran into each other just before dusk yesterday and decided that we'd have a better chance of finding you together." I couldn't make myself turn and look at him so I kept my eyes fixed down on my food. But at that I had looked up at Jett.

"Wait. So the two of you have been together, alone, for more than twenty-four hours. And neither one of you has strangled the other?"

Jett smiled coyly at me, "It was not without difficulty." From the corner of my eye I saw Caden roll his eyes.

"Did you run into anyone else over that time? Like the career pack?" I asked, once again directing my question to Jett rather than Caden.

"The career pack doesn't exist anymore," Jett said bluntly.

"How do you know?"

"We ran into Velvet last night," Caden explained, looking quite confused by the fact that I wasn't acknowledging him, "She was alone and she fled about as fast as possible the moment she saw us. Well, not before she could remind Jett that we were down to the final seven and that he could leave the district twelve whore alone and come be with her now." Caden gave Jett a mocking grin.

I looked up at Jett with a raised eyebrow, "Did she really say that?"

Jett looked almost like he was about to be sick, "Unfortunately."

I immediately burst out laughing and I almost choked on my stew from laughing so hard.

"She's completely lost it," I said in between breaths, "Did either of you hear her down on that valley yesterday. Mental, absolutely mental."

Caden nodded, "Mental, but still dangerous."

Well, that was a conversation killer. We all went back to silently eating our meals but when his eyes were down on his food I caught myself staring at Caden. I couldn't remember exactly when I started staring at him but he must have felt the weight of my gaze on him because he quickly looked up at me, forcing me to quickly avert my gaze. His brow furrowed a little but then we both went back to eating our food and pretended that had never happened.

By the time that we had all finished dinner it was so late that I was practically falling asleep on top of my food. While I may not have achieved much all day it was still physically draining to walk for all that time. From the lack of stars in the sky tonight we predicted some rain, so we decided to set up the tent just in case. Now that the three of us were together again we set up normal watch schedules again so the obviousness of the tent wasn't a major factor. Jett volunteered to take the first watch and I was in no way conscious enough to try and talk him out of it so I let him have it and quickly went off into the tent.

I'll admit I the idea of Caden and I sleeping together in such close proximity was making me extremely nervous, to the point where I could actually hear my heartbeat thundering inside my ears. Knowing that he was within my arms reach was torture. This feeling, this _wanting_ to be close to him, it was something completely foreign and alien to me. I could picture myself just casually rolling over and him quickly pulling me towards him and kissing me before I even had time to understand what was happening. But of course nothing like that was going to happen, he still thought I was completely indifferent towards him. I couldn't help but wonder whether he was feeling this too, this desire, did he feel it? Did he imagine scenarios where I would suddenly kiss him out of the blue? Did being this close to me make him feel nervous? And if so, how the hell did he hide it from me for so long?

"Okay, what's wrong?" I felt Caden breath from behind me and I just about had a coronary.

I turned around and looked into his piercing blue eyes, and it took absolutely all my self-control to simply say, "Nothing."

He looked at my sympathetically, "Come on."

"Seriously, nothing's wrong. I'm perfectly fine."

He frowned a little at me, "Really? You're perfectly fine? Then how come you're acting so strange? You fidget and fiddle with your clothes all the time, almost subconsciously. You're breathing is so quick and sharp that you almost sound like you're hyperventilating. You watch me when you think I'm not noticing but then when my eyes go to you, you won't even look at me."

"I'm looking at you now aren't I?" I said feebly, a pathetic attempt at contradicting him.

"Eora."

"Caden, I'm sorry but really I'm fine."

"Eora I thought we were past all this," he breathed, his voice so sincere it tore at my chest, "I thought you trusted me."

"I do trust you," I said, barely a whisper, "But I don't know what you want me to say."

"I _know_ you. I can see that something's not right and I just want to help."

"You knowing won't help," I admitted finally, hating the way my voice sounded, "If you trust me as much as you claim to just, believe me. I can't tell you. I can't tell you."

The way his eyes darkened and looked at me accusingly stung more than if he had slapped me.

"Fine then," Caden said, rolling over so that his back was to me, "why don't you go find your buddy Jett. I'm sure he'd love to be the one you confide in."

"Caden-" I started but he quickly cut me off.

"Goodnight Eora," he said, sounding painfully final.

I wanted nothing more than be able to try and explain everything but the more I told him the more damage it would do the both of us.

_He can't know._

Nothing I could say would make him feel any better, not without actually explaining everything, so I regretfully turned back over and tried to just forget about it. But I couldn't, not when the picture of the way he had looked at me was burned into the back of my eyes. I think it was the mental strain that eventually knocked me out but being asleep provided no comfort for me. In my dream I was standing in a large open clearing, tied to a tree by thick, strong rope, with a pile of bodies at my feet, each covered in splashes of dark red blood. I could recognise most of them, Porter, Aylin, Selah, Bo, Serenity, Sylas and Kaia among them. In fact, I think I counted seventeen in total, all the dead tributes. Behind them stood the six remaining tributes in a perfect line, Tripp, Davion, Jett, Velvet, Caden and Angora, each one of them carrying a glistening diamond dagger.

"Get away from them!" I screamed to Caden, Jett and Davion, "They're armed! They'll kill you! Get away from them."

All three of them shook their heads, before saying in unison, "It will not be them."

"Run!" I screamed, "They'll stab you in the back! Run while you have the chance!"

And yet none of them moved. The silence was almost eerie, considering all the frightening things around me I suppose it was strange that the silence was what scared me the most. Suddenly Davion broke out of the line, taking strong, purposeful steps towards me. He walked up on top of the bodies, stepping on Porter's lifeless face in the process, until he was about three metres directly in front of me. He slowly but surely raised his dagger out in front of him.

"What are you doing?" I yelled in panic.

His eyes, dazed and emotionless, locked with mine as he quickly thrust his knife into his own chest. I screamed as blood started to pool out of his wound and he collapsed onto the floor with all the rest of the dead tributes.

Next came Jett, his path almost identical to Davion's as he made his way up onto the pile of bodies in front of me.

"Jett! Jett snap out of this!" I shouted, desperately hoping to get his attention, "Come on Jett. This isn't you! "

He didn't even look like he heard what I had said. His eyes as void and as empty as Davion's had been locked with mine in the same way, right before he plunged the knife into his heart. I screamed again as the life fled from Jett's face and his feet gave way, his body falling on top of Davion's. The tears falling from my eyes felt like they were burning against my chin.

To my surprise, the next one to walk up towards me was Velvet. She was crying as well, but when her eyes met mine they burned with an unsurpassable hate. She kept her abhorrent look on me until she came to stand on top of Jett's lifeless body. The fire behind her glare burned one more time as she raised the dagger out in front of her but she slowly turned her head down to look into Jett's closed eyes. That expressionless look overcame her face and she kept her eyes down on him as the dagged pierced her skin and she fell, joining the rest of the pile.

As Caden started making his stride towards me I started screaming and thrashing, fighting as hard as I possibly could against the roped binding me but they were tighter than anything I had ever seen.

"Caden! No! No! _No_!"

The closer he got to me the more I flailed and thrashed, kicking my legs out and pushing all my weight against my impenetrable bindings, but to no avail.

"Caden! Caden, I love you! Please listen to me, you can't do this!" Just like Jett, I saw absolutely no recognition in his face, "Please Caden! Please, I love you!"

I had seen Caden mask his emotions before but this was worse than anything he has ever produced before. He just looked, empty, soulless, like a corpse already. I screamed his name as loud and as high as I could as I watched his arm extend out in front of him. And when that knife dove into his chest I completely snapped. I screamed and screamed and screamed over and over, unable to take my eyes away from Caden's lifeless body.

Now only Angora and Tripp stood behind the pile of ex-tributes, neither one of them making any inclination to move or acknowledging the sounds of my screams. After a few still moments Angora turned to face Tripp and with a speed that was almost so fast I missed it, she jabbed her knife into Tripp's heart, and as she pulled it out he crumpled onto the soft grass beneath him. She turned back to me and started towards me, however her face didn't look as empty as and void as all the other's had. She just looked like she normally did, strong and pensive, more disinterested than emotionless. I started shouting curses on her as she tred on the bodies of Jett, Davion and Caden, but to my surprise she didn't stop where all the others had stopped. She walked up right in front of me, so close in fact that I could smell her distinctly musky and masculine scent. Her eyes, like all the others, locked with mine as she stood so close to me I could feel her breathing. However, when she lifted the her knife out in front of her, it wasn't positioned in front of her heart, it was raised above mine.

My screaming and thrashing became even more frantic as I tried desperately to free myself but it was beyond use. I watched through tears strained eyes as she slowly but strongly brought the knife down to my chest.

I awoke with a start, sitting up with a jolt, sweat dripping down my face, my breath short and ragged. Despite the sweat on my face it was so cold that I was shivering, and quickly wrapped my arms around my knees to try and keep myself warm. I felt a hand brush against my hair and I flinched back at the touch, remembering that the last person to touch me had been Angora. Caden look startled at my reaction and quickly drew his hand away, his eyes full of concern.

"Hey, it's okay," he said reassuringly, "it was just a dream."

Just a dream. Just a dream. Then why did it feel so real? Why could I still picture all those people dead at my feet and remember watching Caden, Davion, Velvet and Jett all kill each other in turn? Why did my heart start to thunder in my chest when I pictured Angora slowly walking towards me, and then again when she had plunged her knife into my chest? Looking back, I knew it was a dream, but that doesn't mean it didn't still scare the hell out of me.

_Quit panicking Eora. It was just a dream. Just breathe. Breathe and forget._

As I focused in on breathing slowly and deeply some of the fear and paranoia seemed to ebb away. It didn't disappear, but it became manageable. I turned to Caden and tried to smile so he'd be less worried, but I don't think I was very reassuring.

"It's okay. I'm alright. I'm fine."

I think hearing those words reminded him of what had happened before I went to sleep because his expression immediately hardened and he lay back down, once again facing away from me. Without thinking I reached out and grabbed his hand before he could pull it away, entwining my fingers in his. He looked back over at me with a puzzled expression, but I simply lay down next to him and rested my head against his chest, focusing on the warmth of his body and the strong yet surprisingly fast sound of his heartbeat. I didn't want to go back to sleep and see what I had seen again but maybe if I went to sleep knowing he was right next to me it would be harder to dream of him dying. He stayed stiff and surprised for a few seconds, probably wondering what the hell had come over me, but soon enough I felt him relax and he slowly put one of his arms around me, holding me against him softly.

And so I tethered my mind to the feel of his warm hand locked with mine and the soothing sound of his heart beating beneath my ear, and suddenly the thought of going back to sleep didn't sound all so terrifying.

**A/N: Okay first off, I realise that I am apologising a lot recently, but **_**I'm sorry I took so long again! **_**I've had a ridiculous amount of school work recently and this chapter wasn't easy to write or to find time for. But anyways I've decided on developing a new system to try out: giving myself a deadline. Warning, it might not work because I've tried it before and I just casually push back the deadlines but this time I'm going to make it official. If I haven't updated by the 11****th**** of March, that's two weeks from today, I want you all to PM me and yell at me and abuse me until I update. Okay? I know many of you will enjoy that ;) Hopefully that will get me off my ass and into work because I **_**know **_**I'm going to stall writing this next chapter. **

**Anyways I'm glad that most of you are up for the idea of a sequel to this story, and for anyone who hasn't given me a yay or nay please feel free to and hopefully I'll see you all before the 11****th**** of March! As always please R&R and I hope you all enjoyed this mammoth of a chapter!**

**xxC **


	37. Nightmares

_**Nightmares**_

I awoke that next morning to the sounds of movement outside to my left. Internally my brain recognised that the sounds of footsteps had some kind of negative implication for me, but as it was I was far too drowsy to form any kind of coherent thought at that point. My eyes fluttered open, drooping heavily due to the absolute horror of being awake at such an inhumane hour of the morning. Unfortunately I was immediately distracted by the ridiculously gorgeous sleeping guy lying with his arms wrapped around me.

As someone who knows how terrible she looks when she's asleep I found it particularly unfair that someone who was already as god-like as Caden could look _that _good when he was asleep. He just looked so...serene, peaceful. It made him actually look like the sixteen year old he was, I guess Caden being as sensible and mature as he was I regularly forgot he was just as young as I was. In his sleep his grip on me had tightened and he had unconsciously pulled me in closer to him, so close in fact that his even breaths were brushing against the top of my head as I lay against his chest. The steady drumming of his heart under my ear was so soothing that it almost lulled me back to sleep, until I heard the footsteps getting closer and closer to us.

It was like a switch had been flicked on in my brain and suddenly I understood what the movement outside meant, that someone was coming towards me. I instantly snapped out my creepy, stalkerish, Caden-induced daze and sat up as fast as I could, making sure not to wake Caden in the process. I dove across to the other side of the tent where I had left my knives and quickly grabbed onto two of them, instinctively holding them out in front of me in anticipation.

And I waited...and waited...and waited...and yet nothing happened. Nobody came in trying to kill me, nobody materialised out of the darkness, no terrible beast came clawing at the door. Nothing. And yet I could still hear movement coming from outside. Eventually I couldn't take the not knowing any longer and crawled my way over to the door of the tent. Peeking out cautiously I couldn't see anyone but I pretty much had a heart attack at the sound of someone's voice to my left.

"Damn, I was going to give Rhoades the next watch," Jett said as he turned around a corner and came into my line of sight, 'What are you doing up?"

I needed a few seconds to remember how to breathe, "You should _not_ sneak up on people like that, I just about had a coronary thanks to you." I took a deep breath, letting my heart attempt to regain a somewhat normal rhythm, "And like I could sleep with you stomping around out here. You'd think there was a freaking stampede going on."

He chuckled a little, "Oh, I missed having you around."

I took a step out of the tent and immediately regretted it. It was bloody freezing, and the wind hitting me was so icy I instantly started shivering. At some point it must have rained because once again the forest floor had been transformed into a wintery paradise. If there hadn't been a serious risk of frostbite I would have jumped in the snow and made a snow angel, it was that pretty.

"When did it rain?" I asked as I sat down near the remainders of what had been last night's fire, the embers still giving off a little warmth.

"About twenty minutes after you fell asleep," Jett said as he came and sat down next to me, "It was absolutely bucketing. I've never seen so much rain fall in such a small period of time. It only rained for about an hour but by the time it stopped it was so cold that it all immediately froze over."

"Well it is the winter day, what did you expect, a nice summer shower?"

"Hey, you're not allowed to be patronising, you didn't even realise the arena was seasonal, remember?" He teased, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

Damn...I'd forgotten about that. Why was he actually so much smarter than I gave him credit for?

"So what did you get up to on your amazing solo adventure?" He asked, popping a berry into his mouth in the process.

I groaned, "Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was maddening just how little I accomplished. I didn't do anything, or see anyone. Wait- Oh, except I teamed up with Davion for a small period of time."

"You teamed up with _Davion?" _Jett queried, almost choking on his berry in surprise, which was so damn funny I had to stop for a second to laugh, "As in mysterious, district nine Davion that we can't seem to figure out?"

I laughed at his amazing description, "Yeah, one and the same. Mind you he's not quite so mysterious anymore. And we were wrong about him; he's actually a really good guy. He spoke highly of you by the way." I said with a wink, to which Jett only looked more surprised.

"Let me make sure we're talking about the same person," he asked again, 'I'm talking about the tall, scary guy with that huge scar on his face. You're really going to tell me he's not as scary as he looks?"

"He's not," I confirmed, "Not at all. And at this point he is absolutely no threat to us."

"So how did you get separated?"

I sighed, "We didn't get separated. We talked for a while last night while we ate, then I went to sleep. When I woke up he was gone. End of story."

"He shouldn't have just abandoned you," Jett said, looking like he took Davion's desertion personally.

"I think it was smart of him," I murmured, remembering everything Davion had said to me.

"How so?"

"Well...he liked me," I started to explain but Jett looked so startled, and suddenly possessive, at that comment that I had to clarify, "Not like _that,_ just in an 'I-like-you-enough-that-I-don't-want-to-viciously-murder-you' kind of way."

Jett's face calmed a little and he looked kind of embarrassed at having reacted so jealously, "Ok, that makes a bit more sense."

I glared at him playfully, "What, are you saying that you would have been _surprised_ if he had had feelings for me?" No harm in getting him in a little trouble while I could.

I could have almost sworn that I saw him blush a little, but I bet if you had asked him he would have said it was just the firelight on his face, "I...You know that's not what I meant...But no...It wouldn't have surprised me. It would never surprise me that anyone would fall for you."

Well take note all, if any of you were looking for the best way to successfully kill a conversation, that was it.

I had absolutely nothing to say in response but luckily for me Jett regained his normal charisma and cool in a few moments.

"Well come on, you can't just cut off mid story. Keep explaining." He smiled at me in such a warm, friendly way that it was easy to pretend those last few lines had never happened and just look at my friend again, rather than seeing a gorgeous guy who unfortunately saw me in a slightly more romantic light.

"Davion...right." I said, getting myself back on track, "Like I said, I think he liked me and it scared him. He didn't want to spend any more time with me in case he started to like me enough that he liked me in an 'I-like-you-enough-that-I-_can't_-viciously-murder-you' kind of way, which would just complicate everything for him. I don't blame him for wanting to keep his focus on his own self preservation. It makes sense. It's smart."

Jett looked away from me for a few silent moments, the firelight highlighting the planes of his face as it became more serious.

"Do you wish you'd been as smart? Do you wish you'd never befriended either of us?" He said softly as he looked back at me, his voice sincere.

"Yes...and no," I couldn't help but hear as my voice caught on the words, "Sometimes I wish I'd listened to Rubin when he warned me away from you," that made Jett smile a little but he didn't interrupt, "It would have made everything so much easier. Because when I think about losing either of you..."I couldn't actually verbalise how I felt but even I could hear the pain in my voice which made how I felt pretty obvious, "But on the other hand after spending, what was it, a little more than a day without you two, I don't think mentally I could have coped on my own for so long." I gave a small laugh, "And I definitely would have physically died a long time ago."

"I think you don't give yourself enough credit," Jett replied, looking me straight in the eye, "You've already done much better than you originally thought you would. Take some pride in it."

I looked at him and gave a very small, pathetic laugh, "It's hard to be proud of anything that required the deaths of fourteen other kids."

"So don't take pride in their deaths," Jett clarified, "Be proud that _you're_ still alive."

I sighed, wishing that I had such a positive outlook on myself as he did, "I'm trying to. It's just hard, especially when I keep seeing them, over and over."

"Them?"

"All the other tributes, all the ones who have died. Whenever I go to sleep, they're there, haunting me. Just another reminder of what I've done, of who I've turned into." I wrapped my arms around my knees and leaned forward, trying to conserve as much body heat as I could.

"Me too," Jett said as his head dropped, "It's crazy how vividly I remember everything. It's like it's burned into the back of my mind. Like I'll never quite forget everything that's happened."

"Maybe you won't," I suggested pessimistically, "It's not like we haven't seen other victors who never really get over their games." I managed to refrain myself from saying _'Like Haymitch.'_

"Well, if the district one legacy sticks with me I should be just fine," he added, sounding uncharacteristically satirical, "All the rest of the past district one victors have been as happy as ever after winning their games. Why not me?" He snickered, as if in disgust.

I gently put my hand on his shoulder, "You're hardly the stereotypical district one tribute. I think that crown fell on Velvet's head rather than yours."

He smiled a little at that, "I think your right. Well there was always going to be someone who went crazy, I probably should have guessed it would be her."

"I think she just went crazy in love, rather than all outright mental. Just should feel guilty," I teased.

He glared at me playfully, "There's a difference between love and obsession, and I think Velvet crossed that line. I really don't see what her deal was, I mean it's not like I ever led her on or anything."

"Maybe not intentionally, but you'd be surprised what you can pull off with those big brown eyes of yours, Emerson," I batted my eyelashes at him dramatically, "I'm sure she was all yours with nothing more than one glance. Blondes like Velvet eat up that stuff."

"Just Blondes hey?" he asked mischievously, and I immediately regretted joking around with this topic area.

"Unfortunately. We brunettes are cursed with rationality, so all that flirtatious crap doesn't work quite as well on us," I hoped that was clean enough of any undesirable topics to manage to change the subject matter of this conversation, "You wouldn't get it, you're a blonde."

"And proud of it," he said with a huge smile, but that impish gleam was still in his eyes that had me a little bit concerned he might bring up aforementioned undesirable topics again. So I quickly stalled.

"You should probably go get some sleep," I said as I held my hands out above the dying embers of the fire, "If I'm awake I might as well keep watch."

As if on cue Jett yawned, "Fine. But seriously tell Rhoades not to let us sleep in for too long. I just have this feeling that things are going to start to pick up soon and I don't want to be asleep for it."

"I'll make him promise to wake you at the crack of dawn," I said with a half-grin.

He winced, "Okay not quite that early."

I laughed at him, 'Goodnight Jett."

"'Night." And with that he disappeared inside the tent.

Have I ever said just how much I hated keeping watch? Yes? Well I'm going to say it again, I hated having to keep watch. One, it was freaking freezing, like literally below zero degrees. I was sitting in snow for so long that I genuinely thought I had lost all feeling in my legs for a while there. Secondly, I was tired, I had had like three hours of sleep and they weren't even peaceful hours either. I was so tired my eyelids felt like they were made of lead and my head kept drooping down. Several times I swear I did actually fall asleep for a few seconds before I managed to pry my eyes back open again. And thirdly, once again, _nothing happened_. It was getting to the point where I was hoping a career would burst through the trees near me simply so I had something to do. Despite the fact that Davion had abandoned me in the middle of the night, he at least didn't make me watch over him while he was sleeping, which I now was extremely grateful for.

The next thing I remembered was the feeling of someone gently shaking me awake, which of course made my eyes immediately shoot open. Caden stood over me, smiling knowingly with that gorgeous half smile I loved so much. In my half asleep-state it was easy to simply get dazed just looking at him, fully taking in how breathtakingly good looking he was, even in this dim light, before I realised just what it was that was making him smile at me in such an amused way.

"Oh crap!" I groaned, "I fell asleep again didn't I..."

He laughed lightly at me, his voice echoing in though the still air surrounding us, "Don't worry, once again no one died, so it's no biggie."

"I'm really sorry," I gushed apologetically, "I swear normally I'm not this much of a heavy sleeper. I guess just being in here is getting so draining mentally and physically..."

"Seriously it's okay. I think we've all fallen asleep while guarding at least once, you've just had the infortune of being caught out twice."

I grinned at him, "Then perhaps I should just work on hiding it better rather than actually staying awake, huh?"

"Exactly," he said with a nod, "But you can go and actually get some sleep now, I can keep watch."

I shook my head, "I don't want to. I mean I'm so tired that I feel like I'm about to pass out...but I don't want to go sleep. I'm afraid...of what I'll see."

He gave me a compassionate look, "Don't worry, I get it. Better than you'd know."

I frowned a little, "You haven't been having nightmares have you?"

He gave me an impish grin, "Just because some of us aren't as quite as dramatic while sleeping as you doesn't mean we're not dreaming just as vividly."

I glowered at him, "It's not like I _try_ to thrash around in my sleep."

"What was it about," he asked lightly, "the dream? What happened?"

I was kind of hesitant to give him a reply, you know, since it was in fact about him killing himself in front of me.

"What makes you ask?" I queried, in a really pathetic attempt to dodge his question.

He shrugged, "No real reason. Just wondering how similar to mine yours were I guess."

It was silent for a few seconds, but he kept looking at me with that calm, persistent gaze that seemed to say, _'I'm waiting...' _ I sighed, trying to figure out how to phrase this so it _didn't_ come across as me saying, _'I dream about you-literally.'_

"You're not going to be one of those people who listens to my dreams then gives me a full psychoanalysis on what it means and what my subconscious is trying to tell me or crap like that are you?"

He smirked at me, "I don't think my dream interpretation skills are quite good enough for a full psychoanalytical response, so you don't have to worry."

I took a deep breath before beginning. "Well basically I was tied to a tree," I said, trying to withhold enough of the truth without actually lying, "And lying in a pile in front of me was all the tributes that had already died, each splattered with blood and looking pale and lifeless. And one by one all of the remaining tributes died in front of me and there was nothing left I could do. Finally the only people left alive we me and Angora, and she slowly made her way over to me...and she killed me," I sighed, "That was about when I woke up."

"I think the traumatic sleeping was definitely justifiable then," Caden admitted.

"Even if I woke you up?" I asked with a half grin.

"I'm glad you woke me up. One it meant I could snap you out of your nightmare, and two, I didn't have to see the outcome of mine."

"What were you dreaming about?" I inquired, trying to sound nonchalant, and failing.

He hesitated, "It was strange...not quite as vivid as the standard kind of nightmares, but in some ways, more terrifying."

He looked almost lost in thought for a few seconds, so I thought I better drag him back to reality, "Go on..."

He turned back to look at me, his eyes locked unwaveringly with mine, "I was standing on the edge of a cliff, standing with my toes so far off the tip of the rock that if I had shifted my weight ever so slightly I would have fallen. And it felt amazing, exhilarating, to feel how balanced I was. The air was eerily still, there was literally no wind pushing against me. The only thing keeping me from tumbling to my death was myself."

I couldn't quite see where he was going with this but I was too intrigued to stop him.

"You were there too you know," he said, blushing ever so slightly as he looked at me bashfully, "Only there was two of you. One of you was standing only a few metres behind me, back where it was safe and there was no chance of falling. You were whispering to me, enticing me, pleading with me to back away from the cliff's edge, to come back over to safe ground. But the second you was down in the chasm, at the bottom of the drop, and was shouting at me to jump, to come join you down below where there I wouldn't have to worry about falling anymore, there would be nothing more to harm me down below. The two different voices both sounded so appealing, I couldn't chose which one I wanted to follow. I even looked down at the huge, empty void below me, testing myself, seeing whether or not I could actually do it, could actually jump."

"Did you?" I had to ask, while I may not have been for the whole psychoanalysis of dreams, I didn't have to be a shrink to see that dreaming about jumping off a cliff was some sort of negative cognitive sign.

"I don't know," he said calmly, "I was woken by the sound of someone tossing and turning before I saw which way I went."

"Well then I guess you should thank me," I said as I smiled at him, "I save you from making some huge, subconscious decision."

"You know how I could thank you? By letting you get some sleep," he said as he sat down next to me, "Seriously, you need it. We all have to be prepared for whatever mayhem is going to befall us in the next couple of days, and that means being able to keep our eyes open."

My face hardened over a bit, "It's not that simple...while I'm trying to sleep I freak out so much about the prospect of what I'll see when I close my eyes that I become so stressed I can only drift off when exhaustion completely overrides my neurosis. Then of course I'm so exhausted and anxious that I have nightmares, it's a vicious, unending cycle. Maybe if I just cut sleep out altogether it will end."

He sighed, "How about you just sleep here with me? That way if I see that your obviously distressed I can wake you up."

I raised an eyebrow at him, "Its kinda cold out here."

He wrapped his left arm out around me and pulled me in towards him, "Not right here it's not."

I couldn't help but smile at him, feeling his warmth radiating off his skin. I shoved over closer to him and rested my head against his shoulder, trying to focus on nothing but his hold around me and attempting to calm my racing heartbeat back down to a healthy level.

If this had been a couple of days ago, it would have been so easy, so simple to just fall asleep in him arms, but now I was so aware of his presence, so sure that this was _Caden_ who was holding me so gently, that I simply couldn't put it out of my mind. I could hear every single one of his breaths; feel his pulse beating from beneath his skin, and being so acutely aware of him as I was I was also terribly nervous. I think at least twenty minutes had passed, and while my eyes were shut and from the outside I imagined I looked like I had fallen asleep, my brain was wired on the feel of Caden near me that I had almost no chance of falling asleep. And that very slim chance quickly deteriorated.

I suddenly felt the soft touch of Caden's fingertips brushing against my hair, every strand that he touched feeling like it had been charged with electricity. His fingertips then moved down, breezing across the line of my jaw with a feather-light touch. My skin tingled where his hands lingered, and I desperately hoped that the cold was enough to hide to burning flush that I could feel coming to my face. My lips parted ever so slightly under his caress, and I felt myself longing to open my eyes and see the tender look in his eyes I knew would be there. But I couldn't, I was supposed to be asleep, that's why this was happening, he thought I was asleep and beyond any recognition of the outside world.

Then before I knew it, his lips were pressed ever so faintly against mine, a kiss so light that I wasn't even one hundred percent sure it was really happening. But at the same time, it took all my self restraint to throw my arms around his neck and let myself be lost in his kiss. How was it possible that such a small physical connection could ignite so much within me? How could I feel every single ounce of emotion pouring out of him, even when he didn't know I was awake? And then as soon as they had come, they were gone, and he simply went back to softly stroking my hair.

Once the initial shock of what had just happened wore off me I managed to focus in on the feel of his touch on my hair, and soon enough it settled into such a soft, soothing motion that my nerves and anxiety just ebbed away, and I managed to peacefully drift off to sleep.

Unfortunately, this was the sentence I woke up to that next morning.

"Well this is cosy."

Jett had said it as he had emerged out of the tent, just as the sun was beginning to emerge from behind the horizon on the twelfth day of the fifty-eight hunger games. My eyes immediately snapped open and I shot up into a sitting position, so that my head was no longer rested in Caden's shoulder. I quickly turned around and was going to quickly begin rambling, but luckily for me Caden was in a much more coherent state of mind than I was.

"Eora fell asleep on her watch," Caden said, releasing me from his grasp and shrugging his shoulders at the same time, "She was so comatose I could barely wake her, but thought perhaps you wouldn't want her to die of hyperthermia."

"Right," Jett said, sounding sceptical. But he quickly got over it as he broke further away from the tent, "Shit it is really freezing out here. You think they'd be able to meet us halfway just once, but nope. Always so melodramatic with the weather."

I laughed at him, and quickly formed a makeshift snowball and pelted it at him, hitting him scare in the forehead, "But at least it provides for some entertainment."

Jett began frantically trying to wipe all the snow out of his face before turning around and glaring at me, "I'm going to pretend you didn't just do that, because I am the reigning district one snowball fighting champion and you do not want to take me on."

In all reality, I did want to take him on, but I was also wary of the fact that it was freaking freezing and I didn't really have clothes to spare if I got these ones drenched. So instead I gave him a mock bow before saying, "My deepest apologies, oh high and mighty champion."

He grinned, "See. This is the kind of respect I should always be shown."

Caden rolled his eyes before getting up and walking over to the packs.

"All the water was frozen overnight," he said blandly, "I'll have to go look for some running water, though I'll doubt I'll find any."

"Do you need me to come with you?" I asked, getting up as I did, which earned me a frown from Jett.

"No, I'll be fine. I won't be longer than twenty minutes."

"Yeah I've heard that before," I said under my breath, obviously loud enough though that Caden heard me.

"Twenty minutes, I promise," he said with a heartfelt smile before turning around and heading out into the forest. I couldn't help but watch as he disappeared into the distance, unable to keep the smile off my face as I remembered the way he had held me last night and the way his fingers had so lightly brushed against my skin. However my musing was interrupted from Jett talking from behind me.

"I don't believe it," he said, sounding confounded, "you're falling for him."

I whipped around to face him in an instant.

"What?" I defended quickly, "That's crazy, I am not."

"Oh please," he said heatedly, "I'm not nearly as blind as either of you. First the snuggling up to him, then the wanting to go with him and make sure he's safe, now the ogling him as he walks off." Jett looked almost physically disgusted as he talked, "I can't believe you fell for all that crap. I can't believe you've fallen for _him _period."

I looked away from him, and turned back to one of the packs near me, trying to make myself look busy.

"Don't be stupid."

"Don't tell me _I'm _the one being stupid. I'm not the one who's convinced herself she has feelings for someone when really she doesn't."

I shook my head dismissively.

"You're just overreacting," I said defensively, "You're just exaggerating because...you know..."

"Look," Jett looked like he was searching for the right words to use, "Just...try not to think of me as 'the other guy' but as your friend here. Everything you're feeling for him...it's just all amplified by like a hundred times compared to what you're actually feeling. Your emotions are heightened and intensified by all the stress, anxiousness and nerves. It's this environment, not you."

I couldn't look him in the eye. How could I explain this to him when I could barely understand it myself? But he was wrong, undeniably, unquestionably wrong. I loved Caden; I had proven it to myself dozens of times by now, last night for example. And whatever I felt for Jett was different, don't ask me how, don't ask me why, it just was different. But I had no chance of ever getting that across to him, so instead I went for the obvious defence. Like they always say, the best defence is a good offence.

I looked down at my toes before talking, "Can't you think of another situation that your theory might apply to?"

He shook his head quickly, "You and I, we're different. You've only ever known me in here, or at the training centre. Any judgements you've made of me were made from everything you've seen about me rather than the things you already knew about me. Caden...you've known him for heaven knows how long and if you didn't care about him then than you shouldn't change that simply because we're in here and there's that constant little rain cloud above your head that won't let you forget you could very easily be dead any minute."

I frowned a little in confusion before I remembered just how little Jett knew about my life from before the games. With him being as safe and comfortable as he was it was easy to settle in and forget that we came from completely different worlds, and that I hadn't known him for half as long as I felt like I had. He wasn't from district twelve, he didn't know that I'd never met Caden before he volunteered for me.

"If you must know," I said looking down at my toes, "The first time I had ever said a word to Caden was about twenty-four hours before I first spoke to you."

He looked stunned, "What? You had never met before this?"

I couldn't say anything; I just nodded my head a little as I continued to avoid eye-contact.

"A couple of weeks? The way you look at him...I thought I was _years _behind..." he looked off and quickly ran a hand through his already very messy hair before turning back to me, "_Weeks_? How could you...after so little time?" He sounded genuinely confounded by this new revelation.

I didn't want to be any greater part of this conversation so I quickly had to think of some way to put some distance in between us so that hopefully all of us could just forget that this had ever happened.

"Look, chances are Caden's not going to be able to find any running water," I said quickly, "So we're probably going to have to melt down some if we want to have anything to drink. So I'm going to go attempt to find some dry firewood to use. You stay here and mind everything, I'll be back in a sec." I quickly turned away and started walking before he had any time to stop me.

"Eora wait-" he called out after me but I had no intention of stopping.

Eventually I got to a clearing far enough away from him that I finally stopped and took a deep breath. I didn't want to hurt Jett, that had never been my plan, but I didn't know how to explain to him something that I didn't even fully understand myself. I felt that seemingly familiar stab of guilt in my stomach as I thought about how he must be feeling right now, but there was nothing I could do about any of it. I had never asked for him to care about me, just like I had never intended to fall for Caden. These things are just out of our control, sometimes there's just nothing we can do about it.

Once I had taken a few deep breaths I managed to regain some of my composure. Looking around the clearing I realised that my excuse for bailing on Jett had actually been a legitimate one. If Caden didn't find any water we were going to need a fire, so I fixed myself on trying to rip off some of the wetter layers of bark on some of the trees so I could get down to the drier layers. It was strangely therapeutic; do be doing such a menial task. It was easy to forget about everything else around you and just focus on what you were doing. As it turned out, that probably didn't help me in this situation.

Suddenly I heard the sound of a twig snapping behind me, and my heart rapidly thumped in my chest. I turned around as fast as I could, just in time to see two huge, strong outstretched hands wrap around my throat, crushing my windpipe and I was hoisted up into the air and pressed against the trunk of the tree. As the flow of oxygen quickly began to be cut from my brain, one single name came immediately to my mind.

_Angora._

**A/N: Dun, Dun, Dun...**

**I realise that was ****evil, but after a couple of very light on chapters you guys needed a big cliff-hanger. Anyways that was a pretty light, fluffy chapter for you, but brace yourselves because the next few are going to be biggies. **

**Anyways, thank you to those of you who yelled at me for being over my deadline, but really two days behind schedule is incredibly good for me. However I'm not going to give myself a deadline for the next chapter because I have a hell of a lot of work right now and I don't want to have to rush the next chapter. SO you guys can expect the next update to be in a few weeks, depending on how busy I am. **

**As a little side note, I would once again like to encourage you all to go and check out TOB, our amazing 24tributes24authors story. Seriously if any of you are looking for something to read go check it out because all the tributes are phenomenal and all the authors are super talented. And, as a bonus, my tribute is still alive! For anyone who's interested I have the D10 female Aleah Armani and she is going surprisingly well so far. So yeah I seriously recommend it to any of you with free time, I realise it's a huge story but it is worth reading.**

**Anyways I hope you all enjoyed the update and I will see you all ASAP! As always I'd love to hear from you so please R&R and I'll talk to you all soon!**

**xxC**


	38. Murderers and Mourners

**A/N: Okay so first off I want to apologise about how freaking long it has been in between updates (especially because I left you with that evil cliff-hanger) but like I said last time I have been crazy busy at the moment and this was a chapter that I needed a lot of time for. Hopefully it won't ever take me this long to update again and to all of you who favourited/alerted at the end of the last chapter I promise I'm not normally this slow.**

**You may also be wondering why I'm doing my A/N at the _start_ of the chapter (don't worry there's another one at the end ) but I wanted to get the chance to apologise now _before_ you read this. Anyways here you all go and I will see you again at the end of the chapter. **

**_Murderers and Mourners_**

I'd nearly drowned once. It was a long time ago, back before my sisters had been born or my mother and Hal had died, I think I was around nine years old at the time. It was when Hal had been trying to teach me how to swim in the lake out in the forest. It was one of the first times that he had let me swim without his help, and I had loved every single second of it. I had revelled in the feeling of the water around me, loving how free I had felt, finally able to hold my own in the cool water. But I had been overly ambitious and one day I had decided to run up to the edge of the water and dive headfirst into the lake. The thing was, I hadn't been able to see the bottom of the water from where I had dived in, which I had assumed meant that it was very deep there. I was wrong. What was actually at the bottom was a rock platform, and the minute I had broken through the water my head had collided with a huge, strong stone. And like that, I became petrified.

It had been terrifying, that feeling of all the air escaping my lungs as they filled with water. Of watching as I sunk deeper and deeper into the depths of the lake and not being able to do a thing about it. Feeling the oxygen being cut from my system and mentally screaming over and over for my body to do something, to react in some way, to fight for my life. I had been sure I was going to die that day, and I would have, if Hal hadn't been there to dive in and save me. For months I had refused to ever go back in the water, but after months and months of gentle coaxing, Hal had been able to get me to swim again, and over time I was able to forget it had ever happened. It became possible to touch the water without feeling like I was drowning all over again, and I would repeatedly thank any higher power that Hal had been there with me.

This time, there was no one here to save me. There was nothing but the brute force of Angora's hands around my neck, slowly crushing my windpipe, and as my body's supply of oxygen began to rapidly decrease a thick feeling of light-headedness began to overcome me. The huge, tensed muscles in Angora's forearms were pulsing as she applied more and more pressure to the exposed part of neck. I tried with everything I had to breathe, but there was just no opening for any air to escape down into my throat.

So I did the only thing I could do, the first reaction that came to my suspended body. I thrashed and struggled and kicked with all the energy I had left, bashing my fists against her trunk like arms and jerking my legs out to kick her in the stomach and the chest but she was like a freaking rock. She literally didn't budge. No matter how desperately I kicked or punched or scratched or struggled she didn't move an inch. The panic in me started to grow as I faced the very real possibility of dying right here and now and my desperate attempt at fighting increased to the point where I began reaching out to scratch out Angora's eyeballs. Unfortunately my arms were just that little bit too short so instead I ended up driving my nails into her wrists, hoping that the pain would cause her to let go. But nope, despite the fact that my nails had literally broken her skin and drawn blood she didn't so much as flinch.

My wide, panic-stricken eyes locked with hers as she watched the life slowly draining from my body. If it hadn't been me she was in the process of killing I could have been almost awed by how calm she was whilst she was killing someone. Her eyes held that same uninterested, unemotional look that they always did, not even the smallest flicker of doubt on her face as she held me suspended in the air, my apparently miniscule body caught in her iron grasp. I could see why Sylas had kept her around for so long: he was the brains, she was the brawn, that much was always obvious, but she was the brawn that had absolutely no issue with murdering anyone. No issue with murdering me.

I continued to try and pry her fingers away from my throat, but as my efforts continued to prove futile and I could feel my strength being sapped out of me, my hope of surviving began dying along with me. My heart was pounding against my chest and I could hear my heartbeat drumming in my ears as my vision began to go blurry. After a few more moments I didn't have the energy to continue clawing at her huge, ape-like hands, and my arms slowly dropped down to my sides.

Despite being here, in the Hunger Games, I hadn't really contemplated what it would be like to actually die. I mean of course I'd thought about it, when you are literally on death's door you can't really ignore it, but I hadn't so far been in this position where everything I did was futile. Even when we had all been bitten by those god damn vipers I had still felt like I had some hope of coming out of everything alive. But this...this was the most terrifying feeling I had ever experienced in my entire life. I was literally watching myself die. And despite everything that had happened, I still didn't want to die.

Instinctually my hand went to my silver and sapphire bracelet that Macie had given me, the one with Alara's white ribbon lacquered down to it. Would they be watching now, Alara and Macie? Would they be screaming at the TV, begging me to do something, to fight for myself? Of course they would, but what could I do?

As my hand fell back down to my side my fingers brushed against something cold and hard at my waist. In that moment I remembered that I had one last chance of living through this. With absolutely everything I had left I grabbed onto one of the knives at my waist and slashed it across her left cheek, leaving a line of dark red blood on her pale flesh. She winced in pain and as her hands flinched and instinctually went to her cheek to stop the bleeding I fell from her grasp, landing in a heap at the trunk of the tree I had been pinned against. Without thinking I took the knife and with all my strength I slammed in into the top of her foot, causing her to growl in pain. I quickly got out of her arms-reach milliseconds before her mace smashed into the snow-covered ground where I had been lying.

A few feet away from her I began heaving and gasping for breath, each intake of oxygen feeling as painful as swallowing acid. My crushed windpipe made each raspy breath feel like knives were being scratched down my throat, but I kept heaving, the oxygen refuelling my body. As I continued wheezing I looked back to see Angora turn and pull the knife out of her foot and she called over to someone from behind the line of snow-capped trees. Tripp emerged from behind the trees, Dahlia's crappy old spear clutched tightly in his grasp and when he saw me sprawled practically defenceless in the snow he gave me a huge, animalistic smile. Brilliant. Bloody freaking brilliant. Barely able to breathe and now I had to take on two of people who wanted me dead the most. Life rocks.

I quickly scrambled up onto my feet and began running as fast as was humanly possible back in the direction of my camp, hoping beyond hope that I'd be able to reach it before I got either a mace or a spear to the head. Even though I was hanging on to life by a string I managed to keep well in front of Tripp and Angora. Running is what I do, it's the only thing I'm the best at, and oxygen or no oxygen I could outrun those giants any day. But it came at a cost. With every step my muscles felt like they were on fire, every breath felt like it was burning my lungs and my body soon began to feel like it was turning into lead. It got to the point where I couldn't afford to keep flinging away the braches that were in my path so I just tried to ignore each scrape against my skin and make it back to where the tent was set up. I could hear the sound of someone thrashing through the forest behind me, which only spurred me on faster.

God was it really this far back to the camp? I did not remember it feeling like it took me this long last time: mind you last time I hadn't just been strangled for a good minute by a freaking brute and I wasn't running for my life. I had myself almost thinking that I was going in the wrong direction when I heard the sound of voices coming from somewhere in front of me.

"What the hell did you do? How could you just let her run away from you?"

I think I nearly had a heart attack at hearing Caden's voice, but it immediately drove me to move even faster.

"Look I don't want to talk about it right now okay. Let's just find her. She can't be far."

Jett's voice sounded so close, so teasingly close, yet I couldn't see either of them. I knew I must be approaching the camp but I didn't know how much longer I could continue at this pace before I wore myself down completely. The two of them started calling out my name, and as much as I wanted to shout back to them I couldn't make any sound come out of my mouth. But then I saw them.

I burst out of the clearing at a speed of knots and as soon as they saw me a look of relief passed over both of Caden and Jett's faces. That was until I fell in a crumpled heap on the floor in front of them.

"Eora!" Caden exclaimed before kneeling down in the snow to scoop me up and help bring me back to my feet. His eyes held a concerned and panicked look as he gazed at my face which I was guessing didn't look exactly healthy at the moment. Jett approached us slowly and his eyes bulged as they took in the sight of my neck, which I imagine looked either very bruised or very red.

"Rhoades..." he said cautiously, his eyes not moving from the choke marks around my neck. Caden's eyes followed his until they too widened in alarm at the sight of my neck.

"Eora what happened?" he asked in a hushed voice, not able to tear his eyes away from the apparently horrific marks on my skin.

My raspy breaths kept coming in short, airy gasps and while the light-headedness and the dizziness had faded my voice still seemed to be failing me. I tried to mouth the words over and over but nothing seemed to be coming out. After a few measly attempts I managed to get out one word that I knew would get them into action and I pointed back in the direction that I had come from.

"An-Angora."

Caden's brow became hard and furrowed as he put two and two together and that occasional rage that I saw in Caden started to show in his eyes. Jett looked startled but managed to keep his head on straight and quickly grabbed his shoge out from his back pocket. He looked at me and helped me up out of Caden's arms, pressing one of my knives into my hand.

"Alone?" he asked as Caden drew his huge broadsword out of it's sheath.

I shook my head and raised one finger to symbol that there was one other person with her. Jett nodded in understanding.

"Tripp?"

I nodded my head as I curled my fingers around the knife he had given me. I had lost one when I drove it into Angora's foot, and while I could think of no better use for a knife it meant that I was down one. That was okay, I only needed two to fight with, and I had five.

"Good," Jett said with an almost malicious grin, "That means we'll have two against three. We should be able to take at least one of them down no problem."

"Are you insane," Caden hissed across to Jett, "She can't fight like this. Just look at her, she can barely breathe!"

Jett gave Caden an annoyed look, "It's that or sit down and wait to get attacked. Which would you prefer her to do?"

"Not if we keep them away from her-" Caden continued on stubbornly but I quickly cut in.

"Caden," I said, hating how weak and airy my voice sounded, "Let me do this. I won't sit out while you two fight. Let me do this."

He gave me a pained look, and while I knew that what he wanted more than anything was to keep me as far away from the two of them as possible, there was no way in hell I was going to let him fight without me standing there right beside him. I looked into those gorgeous blue eyes I loved so much and hoped that my pleading would get through to him, because I was going to fight whether he wanted me there or not.

But he didn't get the chance to make any kind of decision, because in that moment Tripp crashed out into the open, running at his full pace even with that limp of his, but he came to a very quick stop when he realised that he was facing three people rather than one.

I was about to make a move against him while he was on his own but we didn't have time, as seconds after Tripp was in our view Angora emerged from behind him. Her eyes focused in immediately on Caden, the rest of us becoming inconsequential and obsolete, and she headed straight out towards him, her mace held out in front of her in a threatening position. I couldn't see what happened after then because almost instantaneously Tripp thrust his spear out towards me, aiming dead on my heart. I jumped out of the way a second before it would have pierced my skin, giving Jett the opening to trap the spear in the chain of his shoge and snap it in half.

Tripp looked absolutely furious as his only weapon got broken in two, but he managed to keep hold of the spear-headed half and took another lunge at me. Using my knives to form an X-shaped defence, I blocked the blow to the left before jabbing out towards his arm and missing by a fraction. But by shifting his weight to the left I made him stumble, which gave me the opening to kick him dead in the middle of the stomach and knock all the wind from him. He doubled over in pain, heaving as he tried to regain some breath. Jett picked up the hilt of his shoge and used it as a club to bash into the back of Tripp's skull, causing him to fall face first into the snow. Jett raised his shoge up above Tripp's neck and was about to plunge it into his flesh when Tripp's arm shot out and his hand locked around Jett's ankle, before he pulled back and sent Jett crashing to the ground as well. Tripp then raised the spearhead up, bracing to stab Jett while he was down but I launched one of my knives out towards him, hitting Tripp's hand square in the centre. He roared out in pain as he turned around to face me, now holding the broken spear with his left hand rather than his right. He gave me a hate filled glare as he lunged towards me, but I had learnt by now not to let myself get into a fist-fight with Tripp, he was considerably bigger and stronger than me and last time I had left the fight with a few too many bruises for my liking. Instead I ducked under him and slashed my knife out across his stomach, causing him to reel in agony.

Jett was back up on his feet, standing behind Tripp, and was braced for the killing blow when I saw a mace coming towards him out of the corner of my eye. I was about to use what little voice I had to shout out at him to duck but luckily he saw it as well and managed to lurch out of the path of the monstrous weapon in time. He then turned around to face Angora, who was once again locked in a death match with Caden, and yet they were so evenly matched that neither one had managed to land a blow on the other. But now Jett's focus was on her, and all of a sudden the tables in that fight had dramatically turned in our favour. Unfortunately, it meant that my fight just became drastically more even handed. Crap.

Tripp may have been injured and in pain but I was still feeling pretty weak from being strangled not so long ago. Plus as previously mentioned he was a good foot taller than me and a good fifty pounds heavier than me, which would probably tip the scales a little more in his favour. But there was no chance in hell I was going to let him take me down without a fight, not after everything the two of us had been through. He turned back around to face me, his injured hand softly pressing against the wound along his front, the other holding his spear out in front of him. He didn't look like the tall, strong, arrogant career I'd met on that second day of training. He looked like a wounded sixteen year old boy, the same age as me, who was suddenly terrified of a girl half his size. It shocked me, to see him in this human way all of a sudden, but I didn't want to think of him as a person any more. Instead I tried to remember the look on Kaia's face, the sound of her agonised cry when he had shot an arrow right through her heart. He had used Kaia's weaknesses against her then, and I planned on doing the same thing to him now.

I knew what his weaknesses were: an injured hand, a knife wound to the stomach, a previously dislocated knee and a prior stab wound to the thigh that could not have healed by now. And my weaknesses: a stab wound to the stomach, a recent choking and being generally smaller and lighter in stature. As we both stood there sizing each other up a plan of attack clicked in my brain, almost like I could physically visualise how to use his weaknesses against him while defending mine.

With as much strength as I could muster up, I quickly shot a knife out towards his stomach. As you would have expected he dodged to the side the moment he saw the knife flying through the air, which was precisely what I had anticipated. Using his attention on the knife to my advantage I ran towards him and swung my leg out, kicking the back of his knee with so much direct pressure that I physically felt his kneecap dislocate. He screamed out in anguish, who can blame the guy he just had his freaking patellar bashed out of place, and his hands mechanically dove to his now very swollen knee. He crumpled to the ground, no longer physically able to stand.

This was my shot, the one chance I would get to take him out for good, but I hesitated. As I held my knife above him the enormity of what it meant to do this seemed to hit me square across the face. The simple atrocity at what it meant to take a human life was what held my knife suspended in the air as I gazed down at that pain-stricken boy beneath me. I wasn't a killer; I'd never pretended to be one. Simply the thought of murdering anyone used to be absolutely unfathomable to me, and yet look at me now. Would the girl I was three weeks ago even recognise this person, the one who so easily contemplated stealing the life of another? I mean sure, I had been the one to finish of Dahlia, but she was already dying and in ridiculous amounts of pain when I had killed her, and in the end it had been pity that had made me draw that knife across her throat, not vengeance or anger. This was different, if I did this it was all me. But did I really have a choice? They'd taken away that choice when they sent me in here. I couldn't afford to let Tripp live, not if I wanted to be able to get myself, Caden or Jett home.

I took in a deep breath as I gripped onto my knife so tight it was making my hand hurt. Tripp looked up into my eyes, his wispy red hair falling over those little dark irises, and it was like the monster I had turned him into in my mind had disappeared and in his place was the scared young kid I had seen a glimpse of before. He could have been nice once, maybe he was really sweet and charming back home in district two. Maybe he was the kind of person I could have been friends with, or maybe not. I would never know now, not after all of this, not after I watched him run away after firing an arrow through my friend's heart.

"Please," he pleaded with me, not even bothering to try and struggle against me now. He had nothing left, there was no point in trying to fight me physically. He knew the only chance he had was to try and get me to see that this was wrong, that he was a person. And believe me, I knew it. The thing was, it was me or him, and I had to pick me.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, barely audible above the clashing of steel coming from behind me, "I'm sorry." And with that I quickly drove my knife into his chest.

He drew a quick intake of breath as the knife rapidly bled the life out of him, the look of anguish on his face only momentary. Within a few moments, the rise and fall of chest stopped and his eyelids closed. He was gone. Tripp was dead.

I looked down at Tripp's lifeless body and my bloodstained hands, and felt...miserable. How did our world end up like this? When did we become this screwed up? Why did humanity become such a disgustingly horrific species? What other species in the world would persecute and murder its own young, make them torture and murder each other? When did death become something humanity revelled in? I would never know, because this was my world, I had never known another one and I would never know another one. And now I was just one of the hundreds, maybe even thousands, of despicable people who had allowed this world to turn into what it had become. And yet I was going to keep going, if I had to I would kill Angora, Velvet, maybe even Davion though the thought made me feel sick, if it meant that Caden, Jett or I got to walk out of this hellhole alive.

"I'm so sorry," I say again to Tripp, even though I know that he is beyond hearing me now, "But this had to happen."

I tried vainly to wipe most of the blood off my hands onto his shirt, but it was pointless. His shirt was so drenched in blood that I was just making it worse, and after I pulled the knife out it was beyond useless. I didn't quite know what to do, I felt like I needed to do something, but the truth of the matter was that for the majority of the time I knew him I had hated Tripp with a passion. I was hardly the person to give him any kind of eulogy or something, not that I would have the faintest idea what to say anyway.

So instead I just sat there for a few, painful seconds just to let myself feel what I had done. To show whoever was watching that I was not some mindless murderess, that this had an effect on me. To let them see that despite the fact that I had despised the young ginger boy I had just murdered, despite the fact that from everything I had seen of him he was a terrible person, he didn't deserve to die. I looked up at the synthetic blue sky above me with a condemning glare and pointed one of my bloodstained fingers up at them. The message was crystal clear.

_You did this. _

But what was worse was it was still happening. Jett and Caden were still fighting Angora behind me, and when I joined them chances were that we would kill her, I mean she's good but she'd have to be some freaking god to beat three of us. And then there would only be two others we needed to get rid of before it was just the three of us. I hated how simple it was. But the fact of the matter was that it was that or let Caden, Jett and myself be killed, which was something I could not even comprehend. So, ignoring all the guilt and loathing inside myself I got back up onto my feet and turned around:

To see Angora standing right in front of me, her mace above her head, braced to bring it down and bash out my skull.

I didn't have the time to try and stop her, or even get out of her way. I just took a small, short breath and closed my eyes, praying that it would all be over relatively fast. But that mace never hit me.

I felt a pair of arms quickly wrap around me, one around my waist the other gently holding onto the back of my head. I felt my body pulled in towards the other's, being held so tightly, so securely that it was horribly obvious who it was that was holding me. I jerked my head up and looked at his face, taking in the look in his eyes that appeared to be a mixture of relief, fear and...resignation. And as I saw movement out of the corner of my eye I felt him exhale slightly as the muscles in his body tensed against mine, before everything around the two of us went deathly silent, and his gorgeous blue eyes lost their vivid, pure hue, looking empty and lifeless as they gazed down at me.

And I screamed as Caden's body collapsed in my arms and fell limply into the snow.

I dove down onto the ground next to him, almost refusing to believe how quickly this had happened, how suddenly he had cast himself between me and Angora, using himself as a human shield to block her blow. I never even had the time to process what he was doing, let alone stop him. From the edges of my vision I could see Jett get up from his fallen position on the snow and resume his attack on Angora but she was no longer anyway interested. She smiled viciously at the picture of Caden lying on the ground covered in his own blood, and finally content in her revenge, she fled off into the forest. Jett started after her but when he looked back and saw Caden and I he stopped in his tracks, his face suddenly very grave.

Caden looked up at me, his face paler than I had ever seen it and his breath short and hollow. He reached his hand up towards my face but I batted it away and immediately began opening my pack and searching for bandage. The look in his eyes was heartbreakingly compassionate as he began to speak.

"Hey-" he breathed weakly but I quickly shut him up, refusing to listen to whatever condoling message he was going to try and make me hear.

"It's okay, you're going to be fine," I said as I fished around the bottom of my bag looking for the god damn bandage.

"Eora..." Jett whispered, coming closer towards me, the tone in his voice sounding annoyingly defeated.

"We'll bandage you up and then the two of us will be able to stitch you up," I continued, ignoring Jett behind me. Caden looked at me sympathetically, the pain on his face becoming much more obvious. My throat was beginning to burn again, but not because of the choking, "Jett and I will be able to fix this."

"No we won't Eora," Jett said gently from beside me, "just look at his back."

I shook my head and held back the onslaught of emotions I knew was beating down at me but I couldn't help but gaze towards Caden's back, almost screaming again as I took in the sight of him. The skin on his back was almost completely shredded, the flesh torn where Angora's mace had been drawn down his back. It was so deep in some areas that I could see the white of his spine and his shoulder blades. And the blood, there was so much blood, the bright red liquid staining so much of the pale snow beneath us.

I kept shaking my head, refusing to acknowledge what was right in front of my eyes. _He cannot die. _

"We have to do something," I shouted back at Jett, "_we have to try_! I can't just leave him here to-" I refused to say the word.

Caden reached up and lightly took my head in his hands and tried to turn me back so we were eye to eye.

"Hey," he whispered gently, "Look at me."

I kept shaking my head. _This is not happening. He cannot die._

"Look at me Eora."

I slowly turned my face back so that I was looking into Caden's, a single tear rolling down my cheek. He moved his finger so that he could brush it off my face before speaking.

"It's going to be okay," he breathed, smiling at me so tenderly it was all I could do not to shriek, "_I'm _going to be okay."

"Don't say that," I said in a choking voice, "it's _not_ going to be okay. Not if you-" I still wouldn't say it. Even though I could see him slipping away in front of my very eyes I would not even begin to fathom the idea of losing him now. Not after I had just realised how much I needed him. How much I loved him.

"This is always what had to happen," he said as he gently stroked the side of my cheek.

"No," I kept shaking my head, "No it's not. You can't-I can't-" I couldn't breathe, and once again it had nothing to do with the crushed windpipe. My head fell and my voice turned into an almost inaudible murmur, "How am I supposed to do this without you?"

"Listen to me, you're fast, you're smart and you're strong. You can win this thing, I know you can," he looked so sure in himself and in me that it was tearing at my heart, "You don't need me."

"You're wrong, you're so wrong," my voice was cracking with every word, the misery in me beginning to spill over, "Please Caden, please stay with me."

His eyes were glassy as well now, and though he was doing his best to hide it I could see he was in terrible amounts of pain, "I wish I could. But it could only ever be one of us that made it out of here. I wouldn't have been able to do it if you were gone, but you'll be fine without me."

I paused. "You were never going to honour our deal were you," I asked but not accusingly, just in a way that showed I finally understood.

He gently tried to shake his head but I put one of my hands against his cheek to stop him. The last thing he needed to be doing right now was move.

"No, I would have honoured it," he rebutted, "But our deal was that I would try to win if you died first, and I was never going to let that happen. It was always going to be me who died first."

"No," I demanded again, not willing to accept how resined he was to death, "Please Caden. I-" I stopped, the words caught in my mouth. The words I had been so desperate to tell him yesterday now seemed like they were aflame on my tongue.

Another long tear began to stream down my face as I looked up into his eyes, and in a soft, gentle voice I managed to breathe out, "I love you."

His eyes widened in shock, but at the same time his whole face seemed to glow as he once again took my face in his hands and stroked away the hair that had fallen around my face. He looked at me with a mixture of compassion and sympathy but he couldn't manage to keep a radiant smile off of his lips.

"I didn't want that," he said in a choked voice, "I never planned for you to fall for me."

The absolute ecstasy and joy in his smile was so damn infectious that I began to smile despite the tears running down my face, "Then why are you smiling?"

"Because," He took a deep breath and as he took one of my tiny, bloodstained hands in his I could feel him shaking, "I've wanted to hear you say those three words to me since I was thirteen years old."

I lay my head down against his chest, trying to bury myself in his scent just so I could fool myself into thinking he wasn't about to die, "Please don't leave me here," I begged him softly, "I love you. Stay with me."

"You have to win this Eora," he breathed against my ear, "Please win this thing, and then go home, back to your sisters."

I kept shaking my head, "Not if it means you can't be there with me."

I felt him lightly press his lips against my temple and then felt something small and cold being pressed into the palm of my hand.

"When you win, can you give this back to my brother for me," he asked gently, his eyes suddenly watery, "I promised him he'd get it back when he gave it to me."

I looked down at my hand and saw a small silver medallion sitting in my palm, cold and hard against my skin. I nodded against him, my throat tight as I tried to keep back everything that was fighting inside of me, clawing at me to get out. I sat back up and looked into his clear blue eyes once more before leaning down and gently pressing my lips against his. He softly pulled me in closer towards him and I lightly wrapped my arms around his neck. As I pulled away from him I leant back down with my head on his shoulder, a few inches from his ear, and whispered, "I love you," into his ear.

"I love you," he said back softly

"I love you."

"I love you."

I don't know how long the two of us lay there, whispering those three words to each other over and over again in the cold, wintery air. I kept my arms around Caden's neck, tethering my entire world to the sound of his heart beating underneath his chest. Every time the words came out of his mouth they were fainter than the last time, and his skin was becoming colder and paler with each passing second. With each moment I felt the absolute anguish begin to creep up on me even more, making every choked breath feel like I was inhaling lead. And then, after an immeasurable number of agonising seconds, I couldn't hear his heartbeat anymore.

I looked up at his face and saw that his eyelids were shut and his face was hard and emotionless, almost like he was asleep. But Caden had never looked like that when he had slept, he had always looked so animated, so enthralling in his sleep. Now he just looked empty, void...lifeless.

"Caden," I said, sitting back up onto my knees next to him and gently shaking him. His eyes didn't open, nor did his face suddenly warm and fill with emotion.

"Caden," the volume of my voice raised and I began shaking his prone form even harder, "Caden wake up!"

No matter how hard I shook him he didn't move, his body giving no reaction to my touch or my voice.

"_Caden!" _I screamed, refusing to let myself believe he was gone. I kept trying to get some kind of reaction out of him but it was useless. I fell across his body and started pounding my fists against his chest, water running down my face and my heart pounding against my ribs, "Caden wake up," I sobbed into his chest, "Please wake up."

"Eora," Jett breathed from behind me, "He's not going to wake up. He's gone. Caden's dead."

With Jett's words the mental blockade I had forged against my emotions crumbled and the grief immediately washed over me. And for the first time since that first day when Velvet had stabbed me, I cried. I couldn't feel anything besides the overwhelming pain and the absolute melancholy that were consuming every single fibre of me and I couldn't hold back the onslaught of tears streaming from my face. I bawled non-stop against him, my arms back around his neck drawing his lifeless corpse in closer towards me, trying to hold onto the image of the life-filled boy I loved as my heart bled. Every single inch of me ached and burned inside of me, like someone was clawing at my heart. I couldn't breathe without making some terrible choking noise as my utter despair wept out of me.

Jett came up behind me and softly brushed the back of my hair, "Eora, we need to leave. You can't stay here like this."

As he gently started pulling me away I held on tighter to Caden's prone corpse and screamed back at him.

"No!" I screamed, my arms locking around Caden's chest, "They can't take him! They can't have him! He's not theirs," I sobbed into Caden's skin, "He's not theirs."

Jett let me cry against Caden for a few more moments before he came up and scooped my limp body up into his arms and held me against him, letting me weep on his shirt. I twisted the material of his shirt in my grip and beat against his chest as I wailed against him, murmuring over and over, "He's not theirs. They can't take him. He's not theirs."

Jett stroked my hair and kept talking to me in a soothing voice, trying desperately to calm me down, but it was no use. I had broken now, every inch of me beyond repair. But despite the fact that I was bawling my eyes out over the boy he knew I loved, Jett was still there. He began murmuring into my hair, "No, he's not theirs. He yours, they will never take him away from you."

He turned me away from Caden's corpse and sat down against a tree, cradling my hysterical form in his arms and gently trying to soothe me. But nothing worked; I just lay against him and cried. I cried until there were simply no tears left and even then I continued to cry. Nothing anyone could do or say could distract me from the fact that Caden was dead. The boy that I loved was gone and I would never see him again.

And it was entirely my fault.

**A/N: Alright so I am expecting an awful lot of hate for this, but you all knew it had to happen at some point, and believe me I am just as heartbroken as all of you, even though I've had the time to process it. I know that pretty much all of you were rooting for what some of you have called "Ceora" (which I think is awesome by the way) but this was always how it was supposed to end. A lot of you have asked if after I finish this I would write an alternate ending or something where Caden and Eora get to live happily ever after so even though I hadn't really had anything planned I am tossing around some ideas for one. **

**So hopefully you all stick around to see who will be the Victor of the 58th Hunger Games, even though one of your favourite tributes has just died. We're down to the final five so we're nearly there everyone. Thanks for sticking around for so long and I'll see you all soon!**

**xxC**


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